Merry Chrimbo / Nadolig Llawen and all that sort of thing.
Category: Spanish (español)
Swords & Spades
What links the word epee (a type of sword) with the word spade? Let’s find out.
An epee / épée is a sharp-pointed duelling sword with a bell-shaped guard, used (with the end blunted) in sport fencing (pictured above).
The word comes from French épée (sword, glaive), from Middle French espee (sword), from Old French espee (sword), from Latin spatha (spatula, spattle, a long two-edged, straight sword typically carried by Roman cavalry officers, batten, a kind of tree), from Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē – any broad blade, of wood or metal), from Proto-Hellenic *spátʰā (blade), from Proto-Indo-European *sph₂-dʰh₁-éh₂, from *(s)peh₂- (to draw) + *dʰeh₁- (to do, put) + *-eh₂ (a feminine ending) [source].
The Proto-Germanic word spadô (spade) comes from the same PIE roots, and from that we get words like spade in English, spade (spade) in Dutch, Spaten (spade, idiot) in German, spade (shovel, spade) in Swedish, and spaði (a small shovel, spade, paddle, racket) in Icelandic [source].
The Greek word σπαθί (sword, club [in cards]) comes from the same Ancient Greek root, as does the Bulgarian word спатия (spatíja – suit of clubs), which was borrowed from Greek [source].
Other words from the same Latin root (spatha) include spatula in English, épaule (shoulder) and spatule (spatula, spoonbill) in French, spada (sword, epee) in Italian, espasa (sword, epee) in Catalan, espada (sword, epee) and espalda (back, backstroke) in Spanish, and ezpata (sword) in Basque. The words for sword all refer to the suit of clubs in cards in the plural [source].
Feeling Whelmed
You can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you just be whelmed?
Overwhelmed comes from the verb to overwhelm, which means to engulf, surge over, submerge, overpower (emotionally), crush, cause to surround or to cover. So when you feel overwhelmed, you might feel crushed, overpowered or engulfed by everything [source].
Underwhelmed comes from to underwhelm, which means to fail to impress or perform disappointingly. It was coined in the 1950s as a humorous negation of overwhelm. I hope you won’t be too underwhelmed by this blog post. [source].
Both to overwhelm and to underwhelm come from to whelm, an old word that means to bury, cover, engulf, submerge, ruin, destroy or overcome with emotion. As a noun, whelm means a surge of water or a wooden drainpipe. They come from Middle English whelmen (to turn over, capsize, invert, turn upside down), perhaps from Old English *hwealmnian, a variant of *hwealfnian, from hwealf (arched, concave, vaulted), from Proto-West Germanic *hwalb, from Proto-Germanic *hwalbą (arch, vault), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp- (to curve) [source].
Related words include unwhelm (to raise (sb) up from under something that has overwhelmed them), and whelming (something that covers or submerges).
Words from the same roots include gulf in English, Walm (bevelled roof, particularly if triangular and in a gable) in German, welven (to arch, bend like an arch, be shaped like an arch) in Dutch, valv (vault, arch) in Swedish, and cupla (fault, guilt, blame) in Spanish [source].
Paper Cards
The word carta means paper in Italian, but letter in Spanish. It has other meanings, and this post finds out more.
Carta [ˈkar.ta] in Italian means such things as:
- paper or charter, e.g. un foglio di carta (a sheet of paper), carta igienica (toilet paper), carta da lettere (writing paper), carta da regalo (wrapping paper), carta lucida (tracing paper), carta da parati (wallpaper)
- papers / documents (in the plural – carte)
- card, e.g. carta di credito (credit card), carta d’indentità (identity card), dare le carte (to deal the cards), mettere le carte in tavola (to lay one’s cards on the table)
- menu / list, e.g. alla carta (à la carte), carta dei vini (wine list)
- map, e.g. carta geografica (map), carta automobilistica / stradale (road map), [source].
Carta [ˈkaɾta] in Spanish can mean:
- letter, e.g. carta de amor (love letter), carta adjunta (covering letter), carta de dimisión (letter of resignation), carta de presentación (letter of introduction)
- card(s), e.g. una baraja de cartas (a pack of cards), jugar a las cartas (to play cards)
- map / chart / plan, e.g. carta acotada (contour map), carta astral (star chart), carta meteorológica (weather chart/map), carta de navegación (flight plan)
- menu / list, e.g. a la carta (à la carte), carta de vinos (wine list) [source].
It has similar meanings in the other Romance languages, and comes from Latin charta (papyrus, paper, a piece of writing, letter, poem. charter) from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs – paper, book), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (to scratch) [source].
Words from the same roots include card, chart and charter in English, hartă (map), hârtie (paper), cartă (charter) and carte (book, card) in Romanian, Karte (card, map, chart, menu, ticket) in German, כַּרְטִיס (kartís – card, ticket) in Hebrew, ქარტეზი (karṭezi – certificate) in Georgian, and քարտ (kʻart – [playing] card) in Armenian [source].
Incidentally, another word for card in Spanish is tarjeta [taɾˈxeta], as in tarjeta de crédito (credit card). It is a diminutive of tarja [ˈtaɾxa] (tally [stick], plaque, plate, shield), which comes from French targe [taʁʒ] (targe [a small shield], buckler [a kind of shield]), from Middle French targe (round shield, targe), from Old French targe (buckler), from Frankish *targa (buckler), probably from Old Norse targa (small round shield), from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (edge), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (fenced lot) or *dergʰ- (to catch, grasp) [source].
Related words in other languages include targe and target in English, Zarge (frame, border) in German, targhetta (label, tag, sticker, name plate) in Italian, and tarcza (shielf, target, clock face) in Polish [source].
Paved Floors
The Italian word pavimento looks like the English word pavement, but actually means floor. Let’s find out more.
Pavimento [pa.viˈmen.to] comes from Latin pavīmentum (a floor composed of small stones beaten down) from paviō (to beat, strike, ram, tread down), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (to strike, hit) [source].
Related words in Latin include pavīmentārius (floor-maker, who makes the tiled ground), pavīmentō (to pave) and pavīcula (a rammer) [source].
Related words in Italian include pavimentare (to floor, to pave) and pavimentazione (flooring, paving).
Words from the same Latin / PIE roots in other languages include paviment (flooring, pavement) in Catalan, pavement and to pave in English, palmant (pavement) in Welsh, pavement (paving, tiled floor) and paver (to cobble, pave [Canada]) in French, pământ (earth, ground, land) in Romanian, pavimento (road surface, paving) in Spanish, and pļaut (to mow, reap, shoot intensively) in Latvian [source].
The English word pavement can refer to:
- A paved surface; a hard covering on the ground.
- A paved path, for the use of pedestrians, located at the side of a road (mainly in the UK, Ireland and South Africa) – known as a sidewalk in North America, a banquette in Louisiana and Texas in the USA, and as a footpath in Australia, New Zealand and India
- A paving (paved part) of a road or other thoroughfare; the roadway or road surface. (mainly in North America)
- The paved part of an area other than a road or sidewalk, such as a cobblestone plaza, asphalt schoolyard or playground, or parking lot. (mainly in North America)
- The interior flooring of a church sanctuary, between the communion rail and the altar. [source].
Pavements / sidewalks have been around for a many thousands of years. There were pavements in Ancient Greece and Rome, for example, and the Romans called them sēmite (narrow way, footpath, path, pathway) [source], which comes from PIE *swé(d) (by oneself, away, without) + *mey- ((ex)change). Words from the same roots include senda (footpath) in Catalan, sente (footpath, track, trail) in French, and senda (footpath) in Spanish [source].
Are there other words for pavement / sidewalk in English?
Pans of Cream
The Italian word panna looks like it could mean pan or something similar, but in fact means cream.
A lot of Italian words are similar to words in Spanish, French or English, so you can often guess their meanings, but sometimes you come across words like this that don’t mean what you might expect them to mean.
Panna [ˈpan.na] comes from panno, which means cloth, as cream covers milk like a cloth, from Latin pānnus (cloth, rag, garment), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂n- (fabric). Or from Latin patina (a broad, shallow dish, a pan, a kind of cake, a crib, a manger), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē – a kind of flat dish) [source].
Types of panna in Italian include:
- panna acida = sour(ed) cream
- panna da cucina = long-life cream used for cooking, double cream (UK)
- panna montata = whipped cream [source]
- panna cotta = panna cotta – a northern Italian dessert consisting of flavoured double cream set with gelatine, often served with fruit sauce or caramel syrup.). Lit. “cooked cream” [source]
Other words that come from the Latin pānnus include (window) pane in English, pan (piece, part, side, face, flap, patch) in French, pano (cloth, rag) in Portuguese, paño (cloth, wipe) in Spanish, and πανί (paní – cloth, fabric, sail) in Greek [source].
Other words from the Latin patina and/or Ancient Greek πατάνη include pan, patina (a coat, film, glaze) in English, patena (paten – the plate used to hold the host during the Eucharist) in Italian, panela (a solid piece of unrefined sugar; a Mexican cheese) in Spanish, pan (pan, cooking pot) in Dutch, Pfanne (frying pan) in German, panna (forehead, brow, pan, boiler) in Swedish, pande (forehead, pan) in Danish [source].
The word crema [ˈkrɛ.ma] is also used in Italian for cream, particularly to cleaning creams, lotions, the colour cream or cream flavour. For example, crema solare is sun cream, crema per il viso is face cream, crema detergente is cleansing cream, crema da barba is shaving cream and so on [source].
Crema comes from French crème (cream, cool), from Middle French chresme (cream), from Old French cresme (cream), from Latin crāma, from crāmum (cream), possibly from Gaulish *crama (?), from Proto-Celtic *krammen (?), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krama- (?) [source].
Related words include:
- cremino = a chocolate truffle, a creamy cheese
- cremoso = creamy
- cremosamente = creamily
- cremosità = creaminess
- scremàre = to skim, to cream off
Jack Of All Trades
If someone described you as a jack of all trades, would you see it as a compliment or an insult?
These days, this phrase might refer to someone who has some ability in a variety of things, but doesn’t excel at any of them. Or in other words, a generalist with superficial knowledge / ability in various areas, rather than a specialist who focuses on becoming expert at one thing.
The earliest known version of the phrase in English, Jack-of-all-trades, appeared in print in 1618 in Geffray Mynshul’s book Essayes and Characters of a prison and prisoners in the following passage:
Now for the moſt part your porter is either ſome broken cittizen, who hath plaid Jack-of-all-trades, ſome pander, broker, or hangman, that hath plaid the knaue with all men, and for the more certainty his embleme is a red beard, to which ſacke hath made his noſe couſin german.
Key: ſt = st, ſ = s, moſt = most, cittizen = citizen, hath = has, plaid = played, knaue = knave, noſe = nose
A longer version of the phrase is jack of all trades, master of none – the master of none part, or something similar, was added in the 18th century. It first appears in the Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British as:
Jack of all Trades is of no Trade
Sometimes the phrase is made less insulting by adding an extra part: Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one, or Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. These are modern additions to the phrase, although some people claim that the ‘original’ version included something like them [source].
Synonyms for jack of all trades include:
- generalist = a person with a broad general knowledge, especially one with more than superficial knowledge in several areas and the ability to combine ideas from diverse fields.
- polymath = a person with extraordinarily broad and comprehensive knowledge. From Ancient Greek πολυμαθής (polumathḗs – having learnt much).
- Renaissance man/woman/person
- factotum = a person employed to do all sorts of duties, a general servant, a person having many diverse activities or responsibilities. From Latin faciō (do, make) & tōtum (everything).
- sciolist [ˈsaɪəlɪst] = one who exhibits only superficial knowledge; a self-proclaimed expert with little real understanding. From Late Latin sciolus, a diminutive of scius (knowing).
- multipotentialite = a term coined by Emilie Wapnick in 2015 to refer to people with many interests and creative pursuits. See: https://puttylike.com
Here are some equivalent phrases in other languages:
- 万事通 [萬事通] (wànshìtōng) = jack of all trades, know-it-all: “10,000 things expert” (Chinese)
- duizendpoot = a person of many talents; a centipede: “1,000 leg” (Dutch)
- touche-à-tout = jack of all trades: “[who] touches everything” (French)
- 何でも屋 = (nandemoya) generalist, jack of all trades: “anything-er” (Japanese)
- hombre orquesta = one-man band, factotum: “man orchestra” (Spanish)
Are you a generalist, or more of a specialist?
I’m more of a generalist with a variety of interests, skills and knowledge. For me, one language is never enough, and neither is one instrument, one type of music, or one type of juggling or other circus skill.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_all_trades
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/jack-of-all-trades.html
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/408782/is-jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none-really-just-a-part-of-a-longer-proverb
Buttery Donkeys
In my Italian lessons today, I learnt the word burro, which means butter. In Spanish, the same word means donkey, and I decided to find out more about these words.
Burro [ˈbur.ro] (butter) in Italian comes from Old French burre (butter), from Latin būtȳrum (butter), from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον [bǔː.tyː.ron] (butter), from βοῦς (boûs – cow) and τυρός (turós – cheese) [source].
Words from the same roots include butter in English, boter (butter) in Dutch, buerre (butter) in French, and βούτυρο [ˈvu.ti.ɾo] (butter) in Greek [source].
Related words and expressions in Italian include:
- burrificàre = to churn (cream, to make butter)
- burroso = buttery
- imburràre = to butter, grease with butter
- butirro = butter (for cooking)
- avere le mani di burro = to be butter-fingered [source]
Incidentally, in England a buttery can refer to a room for keeping food or beverages, a storeroom, or a room in a university where snacks are sold. While in Scotland, particularly in Aberdeen, a buttery is a savoury bread roll (see photo above), also known as a rowie, Aberdeen buttery, Aberdeen roll or rollie [source].
The Spanish word burro [ˈburo] means stupid, pig-headed, donkey, racehorse, also-ran, stubborn fool, sawhorse or swing [source]. The same word with similar meanings is also found in Catalan, Galician and Portuguese [source].
It comes from borrico (donkey, a stubborn, lazy, or stupid person), from Latin burricus (small horse), from burrus (red, reddish-brown), from Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós – flame colored, red-haired, red, blushing), from πῦρ (pûr – fire, lightning, fever), Proto-Hellenic *pāwər, from Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ (fire, spelt [grain]) [source].
Words from the same roots include burlap (a very strong, coarse cloth), fire, purge, pyre, pyromancy (divination by fire) in English; πυρ (pyr – fire) in Greek; vuur (fire, heater, lighter) in Dutch, and fona (spark) in Portuguese [source].
Related words and expressions in Spanish include:
- burrero = horse-loving, race-going, mule/donley driver, coarse person, horse-lover
- burro de agua = big wave
- burro de carga = workhorse, dogsbody, beast of burden, drudge, pack mule
- burro de planchar = ironing board
- lomo de burro = speed bump
- salto de burro = leapfrog
- ponerse burro = to dig one’s heels in, be pigheaded
- caerse del burro = to admit defeat
- no ver tres en un burro = to be as blind as a bat
- trabajar como un burro = to work like a dog / horse [source]
Snub Nosed Simians
The other day I came across the word scimmia in my Italian lessons and wondered where it comes from. It’s rather unlike words for monkey in other Romance languages, such as mono in Spanish, macaco in Portuguese, maimuță in Romanian, and singe in French.
Scimmia [ˈʃim.mja] comes from Latin sīmia (ape, monkey, imitator), from sīmus (snub-nosed, flattened, splayed), from Ancient Greek σῑμός [siˈmos] (snub-nosed, flat nosed, steep, uphill, bent in, hollow, concave), the origins of which are uncertain [source].
Words from the same roots include simian (monkey-like, ape-like) in English, jimio [ˈxi.mjo] (ape) in Spanish, símio (ape, monkey, simian) in Portuguese, simi (simian) in Catalan, and singe (monkey, ape, foolish man) in French [source].
Related words and expressions in Italian include:
- scimmiesco = monkey-like, ape-like, simian
- scimmione = gorilla, ape, a clumsy and brutish person
- scimmiottare = to mock, make fun of, mimic, ape
- scimmiottamento = aping, mimicry
- scimmiotto = small or young money, friend, pal [source]
Incidentally, the origins of the English word monkey are uncertain. It may come from monk, or from Middle Low German Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in Reynard the Fox, a collection of medieval Dutch, English, French and German fables.
Or it may be related to the Late Middle French monne (monkey), from Italian monna (monkey), from Old Spanish mona (female monkey, from mamona, from maimón (a type of monkey with a prehensile tail), from Arabic مَيْمُون (maymūn – baboon, mandrill). Mono in Spanish comes from the same roots, as does maimuță in Romanian [source].
Mushrooms Hats
An interesting Spanish word I learnt recently is hongo [ˈonɡo], which means fungus, fungal growth, mushroom, toadstool, bowler hat and derby. As this appears very different to words for mushroom in other Romance languages, such as champignon in French, I wondered where it came from.
Hongo comes from Old Spanish fongo (mushroom), from Latin fungus (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, candle-snuff, dolt, idiot), from sfungus, from Ancient Greek σπόγγος (spóngos – spongue, tonsil), the origins of which are unknown [source].
Words from the same roots include sfungjer (sponge) in Albanian, սպունգ [spunɡ] (sponge) in Armenian, sponge in English, spugna (sponge, drunkard) in Italian, and сунѓер [ˈsuɲɟɛr] (sponge) in Macedonian [source].
Related words and expressions in Spanish include:
- hongo venenoso = toadstool
- nube de hongo = mushroom cloud
- sombrero hongo = bowler hat [source]
- valer hongo = worthless – colloquial, vulgar – used in Chile [source]
Other words from mushroom in Spanish include:
- champiñón, which means (button) mushroom, fungus or mold, and was borrowed from French champignon (mushroom, fungus) [source]
- seta, which is used in Latin America to mean mushroom, and possibly comes from Ancient Greek σηπτά (septá – lost things), from σηπτός (septos) [source]
- callampa = mushroom or umbrella, and in the plural, callampas, shanty town. It’s used in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, and comes from Quechua qallampa or Aymara qallampa [source]
The French word champignon (mushroom, fungus, fungal infection, accelerator pedal), comes from Vulgar Latin *campāniolus (mushroom, lit. ‘grows in the field’), from Late Latin campāneus (of or pertaining to the fields), from Latin campānia (plain, countryside surrounding a city, cultivatable land), from campus (open flat level ground, a plain, a natural field), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s, from *kh₂emp- (to bend, curve, smooth) [source].
Incidentally, the English word mushroom comes from Middle English muscheron (mushroom, fungus, toadstool, a surname), from Anglo-Norman musherum, from Old French mousseron / moisseron (mushroom), possibly from Old French mosse/moise (moss) [source].