* Post written by our Spanish teacher Elena
As a great lover of languages, I have always liked to know the etymology of words, that is to say, to know their origin. That's why today I want to share some Spanish words with surprising origins.
The words we use today, as we shall see, are a reflection of the different cultures that have left their mark on the language and have made Spanish a rich and varied language.
It is often difficult to find out and establish with certainty the origin of a word because the evolution of language hides many mysteries, but in this article, I am going to expose some probable origins that may be surprising.
Let's start with a trip to the Arab world, which greatly influenced today's Spanish. The Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century introduced the Arabic language and Islamic culture to Spain. For more than 700 years, Muslims ruled much of Spain, and during that time, Arabic significantly influenced the Spanish language, especially scientific, mathematical and philosophical vocabulary.
Did you know that the word ojalá comes from Arabic and means "God willing"? It is an expression widely used in the Hispanic culture, especially in situations where you expect something to happen, like when you cross your fingers for luck, so you know, if you want something to happen, you can exclaim ojalá!
Other words of Arabic origin are, for example:
Oliva: The word for olive comes from the Arabic az-zeitun, which means "small oil".
Ajedrez: The word for chess came into Spanish from the Arabic word ash-shatranj, which means "the kings". Chess was a popular game in Arabic culture and spread to Europe via Spain.
Cifra: The word for digit comes from the Arabic sifr, which means "empty". The Arabs introduced the decimal numeral system in Spain, which is based on the use of zero.
We now travel to Mexico. Over the centuries, Spanish has absorbed a large number of words of indigenous origin, the result of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 16th century.
Did you know that chicle (chewing gum) comes from a tree resin called tzictli? Ancient Mexicans used this resin for chewing and as a base for making balls to play with. Over time, chicle became popular as an alternative to rubber and later became a popular chewy candy.
We continue in Mexico, with the word aguacate (avocado), which comes from the Nahuatl ahuacatl and has a very curious origin. Ahuacatl means "testicle". What is the connection between this fruit and a testicle? The answer may surprise you: the ancient Mexicans believed that avocados had aphrodisiac properties and associated them with fertility. The Spanish adopted the word aguacate and brought the fruit to Europe, where it became popular as an exotic food.
Another language that has had a great influence on Spanish is, of course, Latin. This was the language spoken by the Romans, who conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula. For centuries, Latin was the language of culture, science and religion in Spain.
For example, an interesting case is the word merienda. This concept comes from the Latin merenda, derived from the expression merere delectationem, which means "to merit pleasure". In ancient Rome, the merienda was a meal given to soldiers at midday or in the evening to replenish their strength. Nowadays, the merienda is a deep-rooted tradition in many Spanish-speaking countries and consists of having something sweet or savoury in the middle of the afternoon.
Greek has also had a significant influence on the Spanish language, especially in scientific and medical terminology. To this language, we probably also owe the origin of a very typical Spanish instrument, the guitarrra (guitar), in Greek kithara, which was an ancient musical instrument similar to the lyre.
Obviously, words from other languages, such as French, Italian, Portuguese and English have also marked the Spanish language.
Can you think of any examples of these or other languages? I encourage you to share them in the comments.
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