Apuntes españoles
La
Real
Academia Española
(The
Royal Spanish Academy)
-
created in 1713
-
given royal approval in 1714
-
41 full members: writers, intellectuals and
linguists
-
its motto: ‘limpia, fija y da esplendor’ (clean, preserve, and
give splendor)
to
the
Spanish language
-
its first dictionary in six volumes, published between 1726 and 1739:
the
single-
volume
edition was published in 1780 (The currect edition: the 23rd.)
El
catalán
(the Catalan language)
It's
a romance language with a rich
literary heritage
dating back to the 12th century.
It's
related both to Spanish and to the Occitan language of southern
France.
During
the middle ages Catalan was spoken outside modern Catalonia, due to
Catalonia’s
military expansion. Castilian became more prominent with the political
union
of Castille and Aragon.
Despite
being banned in the media and public life under Franco,
Catalan is now
flourishing:
many writers, including
some of the most prestigious in Spain,
publish
first in
Catalan and then, in Castilian.
Outside
Catalonia, the language is nowadays spoken in the Balearic Islands,
in
Andorra,
in the Roussillon area, southern France, and in
Alghero, Sardinia.
Euskera
It's
the Basque language of North Western Spain spoken by over
half a million
people
in the Western Pyrenees including South Western France.
It
is inexplicably unrelated to the European languages.
It
is one of Spain’s five (5) officially recognized languages.
Under
the Franco government its use was banned. However, from the 1950s
onwards
it underwent a revival, partly because of the creation of ikastolas,
Basque
language schools.
Under
the autonomous government of the Basque Country, teaching it in
schools
has
been a priority.
Náhuatl
It's
the indigenous Mexican language spoken by the Aztecs with the same
official
status
as Spanish.
It’s
spoken by about a million people in the central plateau of Mexico and
many
other
areas of Central America.
These
are náhuatl words:
-
‘tomatl’ (el
tomate:
tomato)
-
‘aguacatl’ (el
aguacate:
avocado)
-
‘chilli’ (el
chile:
chilli pepper)
-
‘xocoatl’ (el
chocolate:
chocolate)
-
‘coyotl’ (el
coyote:
coyote).
The
very first book published in 1539 was a
catechism in Náhuatl by a Franciscan
monk.
Quechua
It's
the Andean language of the Incas.
It
is still widely-spoken by the indigenous
people in
the northern parts of Chile,
Argentina
and in
the southern parts
of Colombia and Ecuador.
It’s
also a national language Peru
and Bolivia along
with Spanish.
In
all, there are nearly
13 million
speakers.
Its
first grammar was compiled by a Catholic missionary in 1560: it was
used by
the
Church in the conversion of the indigenous population.
It
gave Spanish the words like:
-
el puma (puma)
- la
pampa (prairie)
-
el mate (maté tea)
-
el caucho (rubber)
-
el cóndor (condor)
-
la cocaína
(cocaine)
Potosi
Potosi
is a city in Bolivia where silver was discovered in 1545 by
the Spanish
colonizers. It
exported to Spain in such
vast
quantities of silver that the name
of the city became synonymous with
wealth.
It gave rise to the expression: valer/costar
un potosí (to
be worth a fortune.)
Example:
Estos
(these) muebles (furniture) valen (valer:
to be worth) un
potosí.
La
Federación de Cafeteros(coffee growers) de Colombia
They represent the interests of over half a million
coffee-growing families "en la
zona
cafetera colombiana"
viviendo en cafetales (a coffee plantation) donde se encuentra
cafetos (coffee
tree)."
Dos
(2) Apellidos
In
the Spanish-speaking world everyone has two (2) surnames (family
names):
dos (2) apellidos.
The
first is the father's first
surname.
The
second is the mother's first
surname.
Example:
The
surname of the children
of
Juan García López who
is married to
Carmen
Pérez Rodríguez:
García (father's surname)
Pérez (mother's surname).
Note: women who marry in
Latin America keep their own name.
La
Nochebuena
In
Latin America and Spain, families eat their Christmas
dinner on Christmas Eve,
"la
Nochebuena", after Midnight Mass, "la Misa del Gallo", (gallo:
rooster).
This
is "la
cena de
Nochebuena" is
the
Christmas dinner.
Las
doce (12) Campanadas
On
New Year's Eve, just before midnight in Madrid, Spain, people
gather in the
square
of La Puerta del Sol to hear the
twelve (12) "campanadas"
chimes of the
clock:
they eat
a grape (una uva) for
each chime.
The
event is broadcast
nationally.
The
custom is known as
taking the grapes of luck (tomar
las uvas
de la suerte):
the
12 grapes [las
doce (12) uvas].
Martes(pancake
Tuesday) de Carnaval
It
precedes the start of Lent (Cuaresma) on Ash Wednesday (el Miércoles de
Ceniza).
Cádiz
and Tenerife - in Spain - are known for their carnivals.
El
Día de la Raza
(the
day of the race)
It
is celebrated
in Latin
America on October 12th
to
commemorate
Columbus’
arrival
in the Americas.
In
Spain, it's called El
Día de la Hispanidad
(the
day of the
Hispanic
world).
martes
y trece
(Tuesday
13th)
It
is the
equivalent of “Friday the
13th”
for Spanish-speakers .
Here’s
a martes
y trece
rhyme:
"En
martes y
trece,
no te cases ni te embarques."
(On
Tuesday 13th,
don’t
get married nor
set sail.)
La
Fiesta del Quinceañero
The day when
Latin American girls (latinas)
become fifteen (15) years old,
is known as "el quinceañero".
It's a latino tradition tocelebrate the day with
a coming-out
ball, "la Fiesta
del Quinceanero", with musicians, "mariachis"
who play serenades,
"mañanitas".
Chile
The
name "Chile"
comes
from Araucanian "araucano"
(aka “mapuche”):
it
means "Land's End".
"Araucano"
is spoken by over 300,000 people in Chile and Argentina.
Los
Madrileños
Those
from Madrid, Spain, are called "madrileños";
their
festive day is
"San
Isidro";
their dance is "el
chotis".
Había
(there were) unas (several) gachís (birds meaning women) bailando
(bailar:
to dance) un chotis.
Sombrero
It
is a
hat that provides shade, "sombra".
Cebiche
This
national dish of Peru is a seafood salad.
The
seafood used in it is marinated in lemon (or lime juice)
for several
hours:
other traditional ingredients are
chilli and chopped onions.
There
are many variations of
the recipe across Peru.
Mate
Its dried leaves comes from the yerba mate tree.
They're steep
in hot water.
This
tea has a high caffeine content.
It
is used
as a social drink traditionally served in a
small, hollowed out gourd,
also
called "a mate" and
drunk through a cylindrical metal tube, "una bombilla".
The
word, "mate", comes
from the indigenous language, Quechua.
A
common Argentinian exclamation: ¡Tomá
mate!
(Well,
what d’you know?)
Sangría
It's
a refreshing "cold" drink originated
in Segovia, Spain:
it's made using wine
and
fruit juice.
Savvy
The
word means smart: it comes from the Spanish verb, to know, ("saber").
"Hacer
San Lunes"
This
Latin American expression means "to not go to work on
Monday".
hacer
puente
(to
make a bridge)
In
Latin America and Spain, when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or
Thursday,
employers often make the Monday or Friday a holiday as
well
in
order to give everyone a long weekend: this
is known as "hacer puente".
Siesta
(nap)
It
is derived from ‘sexta hora’ (Latin: the sixth hour) meaning "noon".
The
expression, "echarse una siesta",
means "to take
a nap".
"La
quinta columna"
(the fifth colum)
This
expression from the U.S. Gov't was used to refer to the belief that
there
were communist infiltrators and communist
sympathizers,
enemies
of democracy, who had to be rooted out.
The
Plaza de Mayo
(The May
Square)
It
is located
downtown
in front of
the presidential palace in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
It
is where
the
May
1810 independence of
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay,
and
Bolivia from Spain began.
It
is now famous for the silent Sunday demonstration of "las madres y las
abuelas (the mothers
and
grandmothers) de la
Plaza de Mayo"
of "los
desaparecidos", those
who
were taken away to be murdered by the
military
regime in the late
1970s for
being
suspected communists.
Cien
Años de Soledad (A Hundred Years of
Solitude)
It's
the title of the famous novel written by Coumbian author, García
Márquez,
written
in 1967: it's the multi-generational story of the Buendía family.
¡Salud!
(Cheers!)
In
Spain: ¡Jésus, Salud, y pesetas!
Un
Bocadillo
"Una
barra de pan" (a French loaf) is used to make un
bocadillo (a sandwich
made with French bread).
Las
Tapas
They
refer to a range of snacks in
Spanish bars:
-
chorizos (spicy sausages)
-
sobrasada (a spreadable
sausage)
-
salchichón (spiced salami sausage)
-
Jamón
Serrano (ham hanging from the ceilings of Spanish bars to cure)
The
expression originates from drinks served
with lids (tapas): in
time,
a
snack
was placed on top of the lids (tapas),
so "tapas"
came to mean the
food
that was on the lids.
Forks
Hispanic
countries use a system of "forks"
rather than stars in order to
rank restaurants.
¡Que
aproveche! (Latin
America: ¡Buen
provecho!)
Enjoy your food.
Un
Latigazo
In
Spain "un
latigazo"
refers to "a shot" of an alcoholic drink.
It can also mean a whipping or a sharp pain.
A látigo is a
whip.
La Corrida (bullring)
It's the place where the bull fights happen: until very
recently, it was
very much part of the Spanish identity.
The
seats in the shade (localidades
a
la sombra) are
more expensive.
Quetzal
It
is the
exotic, colourful Guatemalan national bird featured
prominently
on
the Guatemalan flag: it is also the name for the Guatemalan
currency.
Quetzalcóatl
It
was one
of the most renowned Aztec gods of Mexico
represented as
a
plumed serpent.
Its
name
means ‘tail feather of the quetzal’.
Inti
Raymi (the Inca sun god)
It's
the annual festival of the winter solstice, held in Cuzco on June 24th.
In
the Inca calendar, it marks the beginning of the sun’s
new year.
Afro-Caribbean
Music
From
"the mambo" to "the rumba" to "the chachachá" to "the salsa": this
Latino
dance music has an Afro-Caribbean rhythm.
Kinds
of Café (coffee)
-
un café solo
(black)
-
un café tinto
(Columbia)
-
un café con
leche (with
milk)
-
un café cerrero
(strong)
(Columbia)
- un cortado
(a small coffee
with some milk)
Not THE SAME
Simpático/a
means "nice";
comprensivo/a
"sympathetic and understanding".
Note:
like French, possessive adjectives
are NOT used when
talking about
body parts+clothing.
Note:
colours are masculine+invariable.
Note:
hambre is a
feminine noun
that
has a the masculine definite
article, el.
When
“e” replaces “y” to express "and".
When
a
word
begins with “i” and “hi”, “e”
is used.
Examples:
-
padre (father) e hijo
(son)
-
acero (steel) e hierro
(iron).
-
Pablo (Paul) e (and)
Inés (Agnes)
-ería is a noun suffix
la
pastelería
(pastel + -ería
= pastelería) (pastry shop)
la
papelería
(papel + -ería
= papelería) (stationery store)
la
carnicería
(carne + -ería
= carnicería) (butcher’s shop)
una
librería
(libro + -ería
= librería) de ocasión (second-hand)
-ura
is a noun suffix
loco:
mad; locura:
madness
fresco:
fresh; frescura:
freshness
hermoso:
beautiful; hermosura:
beauty
guapo:
handsome; guapura:
handsomeness
-cito
is a diminutive noun suffix
pobrecito
padrecito
madrecita
hombrecito
Diminutives
"Mosquito"
is the diminutive of the Spanish word "mosca" (fly): it literally
means
"little
fly".
Other
Diminutives:
-
un poquito (a little bit)
-
un trocito (a little
slice)
-
una casita (a little
house)
-
un perrito (a little
dog/puppy)
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