Caballo and Chivalry
- Posted by Morgan
- on
- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish for “horse” caballo, comes from the Latin for the same. From that Latin root, we get a bunch of English words including:
- Cavalry — Cavalry, after all, is just a group of knights on horses!
- Chivalry — Yes, from the same root as “horse” we get the word for the behavior of a gentleman! The “knight in shining armor” is the cross-roads between the fighter turning into a gentleman.
All of these share the same c-v-l root (which turns into c-b-l in Spanish).
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Tirar and Retire, Tirade
- Posted by Morgan
- on
- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish tirar, meaning “to throw, to pull”, has two unexpected cousins: the English retire and tirade.
The two English words come from the same root, also meaning the same. Thus, retire literally means, to pull back (the Latin root re- means “back”): to go on a tirade is literally just throwing out lots and lots of words!
Oddly, no one knows where this whole family of words comes from. No obviously similar cognate exists in Latin.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Moda and Modern
- Posted by Morgan
- on
- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
Moda (Spanish for “fashion”… to be fashionable is, de moda) comes from the Latin modo meaning, “just now”: what is fashionable or cool is, definitionally, temporal, for just this one fleeting moment; tomorrow, it will no longer be cool, for tomorrow isn’t now!
From the same root is the English Modernity, which, definitionally, is thus just what is happening right this very moment.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Fondo, Hondo and Profound
- Posted by Morgan
- on
- in Initial F to H, True Spanish Etymology Stories
From the Latin fundus (“bottom”), we get the Spanish fondo (“background”) and hondo (“deep”) — as well as the English profound. After all, when someone says something profound, well, that’s deep.
The mapping of the Spanish f-n-d (or h-n-d) to the English (pro)-f-n-d is straightforward. However, it’s curious that, in hondo, the initial F transformed from Latin into Spanish to an initial H. This is a common pattern, unique to Spanish, that we see in many Latin words as they transformed into Spanish, such as hijo and filial, refuse and rehusar, and higado and fig.
- See more of this pattern: Initial F to H, True Spanish Etymology Stories
Beber – Beverage
- Posted by Morgan
- on
- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
File this one under the “So obvious I didn’t realize it” category: the Spanish beber (“to drink”) is a cousin of the English, beverage.
Both come from the same fountain: the Latin bibere, meaning the same. Thus, the b-b-r in the Spanish beber maps to the m-v-r in the English beverage.
The only change is a b-to-v transition, which is one of the more common and often interchangeable transitions.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Despedirse and Repeat
- Posted by Morgan
- on
- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish despedirse (“to say goodbye; leave”) comes from the Latin petere (“to seek.”) With the des– prefix, despedirse literally means: to seek away from. You say goodbye when you’re looking for something else, away from where you are now.
From the Latin root, we get a few English words including:
- Petulant. The petulant kid never stops seeking more and more.
- Perpetual. What is doing something perpetually if not, looking for something and never getting what you want?
- Repeat. That’s when you keep on looking for something over and over, and never find it.
- Compete. It’s when you’re looking for something — and so is someone else.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
what is the etymological way to learn spanish?
Nerds love to pattern-match, to find commonalities among everything. Our approach to learning languages revolves (the same -volve- that is in “volver”, to “return”) around connecting the Spanish words to the related English words via their common etymologies – to find the linguistic patterns, because these patterns become easy triggers to remember what words mean. Want to know more? Email us and ask:
morgan@westegg.com
patterns to help us learn spanish:
Buy the Book!
