Cannabis – Hemp
Today is time for what is perhaps my all-time favorite example of how sound patterns change over time. Here we go, no more delays:
The Proto-Indo-European sound k- changed into the h- sound into German (then English) — but it remained the k- sound (often spelled with c-) into Latin then Spanish. Thus we get many great parallels we’ve discussed before, such as head/cabeza. Another example of the same pattern:
The English hemp, for everyone’s favorite weed to smoke. The Spanish for the same, which we also say in English, is cannabis.
Now look closely: if we remember that the h- in the Germanic/English words maps to the c- in Latinate/Spanish words, then it becomes very clear that the h-m-p of hemp maps the c-n-b of cannabis. The m/n and p/b cross and change very easily between each other, so those sound changes are much more obvious.
Who would’ve thunk!
Gota and Gout, Gutter
- Posted by Morgan
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
Gota, Spanish for “drop” comes from the Latin gutta for the same. From this root, we also get the English gout and… gutter. What is gout, after all, if not a pain that is a constant drip or a gutter, a collection of dirty water drops? The g-l sounds are consistent among all variations.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Pedir and Petition
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish pedir (“to ask”) comes from the Latin petere, meaning the same.
From that Latin root, we get the English words, petition — which is, after all, merely a formal request.
We can see the mapping in the p-d of pedir to the p-t of petition. The t/d are often swapped as languages evolve and are often pronounced similarly as well.
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Morder – Remorse
- Posted by Morgan
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish morder, “to bite”, sounds completely different than anything in English (except for obscure SAT words like mordant – which literally means, biting!).
But who would’ve thunk that it’s related to remorse.
Remorse comes from the Latin remordere, which means, “to bite back” – from the earlier re- (the prefix meaning “back” in this case) and mordere, from which we get, morder.
The remorseful do bite back indeed!
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Bisabuelo and Bi-
- Posted by Morgan
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
Bisabuelo (Spanish for “great-grandparent”) has an origin more obvious than it seems: the bis- that begins it (adding to just abuelo, grandfather) is the same bi- that means “two” in a variety of Latin words- bilateral, bifurcate, and many more. So, bisabuelo literally means, “grandfather — twice over!”
- See more of this pattern: True Spanish Etymology Stories
Lágrima and Lacrimal Sac
- Posted by Morgan
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- in True Spanish Etymology Stories
The Spanish lágrima (“tear”) comes from the Latin Lacrima, meaning the same.
From the same root we get the English… lacrimal sac. In case you forgot our high school biology class, that’s the bit by your eye that creates… tears.
The l-c-r of lacrimal sac maps to the l-g-r of lágrima.
- 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:
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