Talk:List of English words of Spanish origin

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Potato[edit]

There is a lot of dispute on 'potato' in the list of English words of foreign origin. Remove if appropriate. I believe it came from a carribean island colonized by the Spaniards. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jondel (talk • contribs) 00:27, 18 May 2004

It came from Spanish reintepretation of the original quechua word... In Spanish Papa and Patata exist as words, Batata is sometimes used instead of Yuca or Camote (I do not know which of either, Batata is used in Argentina's Spanish, in Peru the words used are Papa, Yuca and Camote; The three refering to different species just as Batata is a different species from Patata). Herle King 23:57, 4 May 2007 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.121.147.175 (talk • contribs)

Siesta[edit]

some words that are Portuguese, loans to Spanish: mulatto (from Mulato), Siesta (from Sesta). -Pedro 23:18, 31 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Note , (not disagreeing) siesta came from Mexican Spanish.--Jondel 00:40, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

In reference to "mulatto" and "siesta". This is an interesting point. Not sure about 'mulatto' but siesta should definitely be added here. The word came into english from spanish not from portugese. I do think there should be a note that the word originated in portugese and maybe even added to the portugese page since its ultimate origin is Portugese. Is there a discussion group on this? Perhaps we can develop a wikipedia standard? There are alot of examples like this. For instance, orange comes originally from the Sanskrit word 'na rangi' and came to english through more than 1 intermediary. The same is true for candy which came from sanskrit to arabic to italian to english.... Anyway... User:Queson 00:50 Nov 1st, 2004


I don't want to discussed this too much just talk. Well ..

What Pedro may be saying is that it may have been originally from Portugese (Portugese->Spanish->Mexican Spanish->English). Is this what you are saying(Spanish->Mexican Spanish->English)no Portugese? There are also a lot of words that have come through Spanish, Arab :alcohol, etc.--Jondel 01:32, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

According to DRAE (dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy), the Spanish word siesta comes directly from Latin sexta (the 6th hour)
FWIW, Ejrrjs 01:46, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

No Portugese then? (Latin :sexta->Spanish :siesta) --Jondel 01:54, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

That makes sense; e -> ie really only happened in words that have been in Spanish for some time.  :~Maiya78 10:46, 14 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Royal real[edit]

Royal -> Real estate. - Everything used to be owned by Royalty. You only paid to borrow it. Actually, nobody owns land. Only the government. The government only leases to land/property owners. --Jondel 00:40, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Orange[edit]

Sanskrit:Narangi=>Persian=>Arabic=> Ancient French (une naranj became=>Old to Modern French: a une orangje )=> (The n transfered, liasoned or disappeared as customary in french speech: une naranj-> une orange ) The orange came into into English during the Norman French colonization of England. The naranja of Spanish also came by way of Arabic.--Jondel 01:25, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Mulato[edit]

According to DRAE (dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy), the Spanish word mulato arises from mulo < Latin mulus; hybrid.
FWIW, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ejrrjs (talk • contribs) 01:49, 2 November 2004


No Portugese then? (Latin :mulus->Spanish :mulato). The mulus is mule, the hybrid of a horse and donkey. It most probably come from slave traders (Spanish or Portugese) --Jondel 01:58, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Portuguese vs Spanish[edit]

In List of English words of Portuguese origin there are several other words (albino, caldera, ...) that came from Spanish, if we have to believe Merriam-Webster online.

Ejrrjs 02:41, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

United States[edit]

Most words seem to come from Mexican Spanish into the United States.--Jondel 03:00, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

That would make sense; no other Spanish-speaking countries share such a large border with an English-speaking country.  :~Maiya78 10:49, 14 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Establishing direction[edit]

It would be smoother if all entries were listed in this order:

Chocolate
from Spanish, from Nahuatl xocolatl
Comrade
from French camarade, from Spanish camarada

the older source being ----> last. 'Chocolate' entered English from Spanish, not from Nahuatl. It entered Spanish from Nahuatl. So English>Spanish>Nahuatl. Most are already in this order, but many are not. The words that are simply from Spanish are already listed correctly, of course. Decius 01:20, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I've rearranged them. Decius 01:32, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the effort. I'm afraid though that the standard in etymology is to use A < B to mean A descends from B. :Ejrrjs | What? 21:41, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, it's backwards. The > is kind of like an arrow, meaning the word went from the language on the blunt end to the language on the pointy end. Nohat 23:17, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I've fixed them now, though I might add that both < and the word from are not necessary (the former implying the latter). I'd say just skip the somewhat technical < symbol and just stick with from. Dictionaries use < to save on space. We have no such limitation here. Nohat 23:25, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I didn't just change the arrows: for instance, many examples were like this before I changed them:

Chocolate :from Nahuatl xocolatl, from Spanish

yet this is the actual order:

Chocolate :from Spanish, from Nahuatl xocolatl

The direction of the arrows was not my point at all. The arrows are not even necessary.Decius 23:43, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC

Countries, cities and the like[edit]

Is it worth to list geographical names? I've added Philipines because it was non obvious, but the rest? BTW Spanish and Spain themselves are not loans from Spanish; in fact, they were imported into Spanish from Provençal:

Castro, Américo: Sobre el nombre y el quién de los españoles, Biblioteca de la Historia, Sarpe, 1985, ISBN 84-7291-736-6 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum

Ejrrjs | What? 15:00, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Dengue[edit]

Removed:

, from Swahili dinga, ="seizure"

Diccionario Critico Etimológico Castellano e Hispánico says that Spanish dengue is "from expressive creation". --Error 3 July 2005 03:39 (UTC)

Expressive creation????????????? That ahs no single word in Spanish, even less "Dengue" The word is non-Spanish, I'm a first-language Spanish speaker and attest so...Herle King 00:10, 5 May 2007 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.121.147.175 (talk • contribs)

Mustang[edit]

mustang
from mestengo or mestenco, ="without known master or owner" (archaic)

This seems to aim to mostrenco, but what I have seen is mesteño, a Mesta beast. --Error 3 July 2005 03:39 (UTC)

I checked and mostrenco is a derivation of *mestenco. Mustang comes from either mestengo or mesteño, and mesta also means a reunion of stray beasts by shepherds. --Error 4 July 2005 02:33 (UTC)

Merging[edit]

I don't think that Wiktionary:Transwiki:List of Spanish expressions in common English should be merged to List of English words of Spanish origin, as suggested by Ejrrjs. As the top of the former page says "Here are some words or phrases from the Spanish that are sometimes used in English slang, but have not entered the standard lexicon." There is a difference between the two lists, namely that the latter contains words that are commonly found in dictionaries, et al. --Kewp (t) 14:09, 3 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I didn't see discussion on Talk:List of Spanish expressions in common English. Can we remove the merge tags?--Kewp (t) 14:11, 3 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Fine, I'll do it Ejrrjs | What? 16:58, 3 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not yada yada[edit]

I *might* agree that wiktionary is the right place for this once:

  • wiktionary has this info (as I write there are only 15 words in the corresponding category).
  • a proper entry is written here noting, at least, that there are many words in English from Spanish, and that several of them were originally from native languages
  • ditto for the similar German, Latin, Greek, etc. list to show that there is no bias against Spanish and/or French.

Otherwise, deleting this only serves to increase entropy. So, put your gun down and get yourself involved, or leave this entry alone. Ejrrjs | What? 07:27, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Comrade[edit]

Doesn't the fact that French and Spanish have the word "Comrade" imply that Comrade comes from Latin instead? However, German has the word "komrade", so it may be Germanic in origin. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.53.223.34 (talk • contribs) 06:29, 16 December 2005

  • It's ultimately from Greek and hence doesn't belong here like half of this list.--Hraefen 06:32, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

No and no. According to [1] it comes from French that took it from Spanish. And yes, it does belong here (or to a Wiktionary category, for that matter). User:Ejrrjs says What? 07:02, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

  • You forgot to go look up where the Latin camera comes from...from Greek! I'll trust the OED over an online source about 99 times out of 100.--Hraefen 07:08, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't forget as it has no relevance, or should we also track the protoIE root (hint: it's *kam)?. Camarada is a true Spanish innovation and it is worth mentioning it for the sake of those who care. User:Ejrrjs says What? 18:27, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • I think you did forget (more accurately...didn't know until last night) becasue when I said it's from Greek, you said "No." It's right above. In the current system of English etymology categorization on Wikipedia, comrade does belong here, but that's only because the current system sucks. Words should go to lists of their ultimate traceable origin (and no...that doesn't mean IE, because that involves way too much speculation). To see what I'm talking about (and to see if I'm one of "those who care") go to the bottom of Linguistic history of Spanish to see the newly created lists of Spanish etymology.--Hraefen 19:54, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I hope that chastising me made feel you better, and thanks for pointing out Linguistic... However, I still think that that pages do not bring a better solution as it loses the "history" of the word; how would it handle filibuster? User:Ejrrjs says What? 21:06, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • I didn't mean to chastise...I'm just disappointed with the jumbled state of the English etymology pages. And the Spanish etymology pages will eventually have full etymologies, not just lists. Check out List of Spanish words of Austronesian origin for an example of what all of those pages will look like in a few months. And you're right, filibuster is a tricky one involving at least three distinct languages. My opinion is that you include one full etymology on the most appropriate page (Dutch in this case) and then put links at the others (Spanish and French). Every langauge gets its share of the credit/blame, but you don't waste space with duplicated info. Sorry if I came off as an ass...my wiki stress level is kinda high right now.--Hraefen 22:24, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would go by "degrees of proximity" subcategories... I.e. "Words from Spanish origin" 1st degree/2nd degree and so on... And likewise in evry such "from said language". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 200.121.147.175 (talk) 00:08, 5 May 2007 (UTC).[reply]

List erased once moved to Wiktionary[edit]

The process will begin now. This has nothing to do with Spanish, any more than it has to do with French or Persian. It is just counter to the protocol that has been established. I've been checking out Wiktionary of late, and I find that it is much more suited, as well as being the proper place for such a long list of words. Alexander 007 12:49, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Fine with me. You may also want to check Wiktionary:Transwiki:List of Spanish expressions in common English. Ejrrjs | What? 20:56, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

hey this is lionel from queens this page is the best page of spnish ever made. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.159.196.2 (talk • contribs) 00:11, 6 January 2006

Another word to the list[edit]

Has 'quixotic' been added? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.54.204.87 (talk • contribs) 09:06, 17 January 2006

savvy[edit]

According to Etymonline, Spanish Sabe is a plausible source for Savvy. User:Ejrrjs says What? 09:11, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Capitalized[edit]

I have capitalized the beginning of each word as per the general convention in a dictionary entry. --Bhadani 14:42, 14 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bizarre[edit]

The word "bizarro" according to DRAE (dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy) means brave, or generous, splendid or lucid. Nevertheless, 'bizarre' means 'weird', 'odd' or 'strange'. For instance, this word was not borrowed from Spanish. In French, the word 'bizarre' has the same meaning to English — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.93.136.141 (talk • contribs) 17:31, 24 November 2006

They could as well be convergent evolutions... In Spanish the sense of "weird" or "odd" for "bizarro" is an anglicism... While the sense of "brave" and such is outdated as the word has lost popularity... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.121.147.175 (talk • contribs) 00:00, 5 May 2007

Doubtful[edit]

I really have a lot of doubts about the truthfullness of this page. A lot of the words seem to be quite a stretch. For one thing, saying things like "amigo" comes from the Spanish word "amigo" meaning friend or "quesadilla" comes from the Spanish word "quesadilla" is just ridiculous. The word amigo isn't really used in English, unless as borrowed word in an interesting way, and quesadilla is just the name of a food that has not equivalent in English. I also doubt that so many words came directly from Spanish to English. For example, "dollar" supposedly comes from the Spanish "dolar" which comes from the German "thaler". I think it might be more accurate to assume the word came directly to English from German and that the Spanish word developed either later or around the same time as the English word. So many of the word origins seem really far-fetched, and difficult to believe and there are also far to many words in Spanish that aren't used in English at all, expect for by people who know Spanish. (For example, saying that the supposedly English word "playa" comes from the Spanish word "playa". In English we would just say "beach"). My point is, this article really needs to be updated or improved, it's just so poorly done and really kind of silly. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.244.163.60 (talk) 06:07, 1 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

"There is also a separate list of some words or phrases from Spanish that are sometimes used in English slang, but have not entered the standard lexicon."
As discussed previously, they might be merged, or turned into a Wiktionary category. In any case, any addition needs sources. User:Ejrrjs says What? 06:31, 12 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
That other list is in more desperate need of cleanup than this list, I think. It includes some words that are completely integrated into English, and used by completely monolingual speakers regularaly (machete, salsa, plaza, poncho...), and some words/phrases pretty much only used by people who know at least some Spanish, not in everyday English conversations (pendejo, agua, ¿dónde?...), as well as a number of very specialized culinary-related terms, which I'm not sure how you'd classify--they appear on menus, but they're not nativized into English in the same sense that, say, tortilla has been. All this extra crap muddies the waters and obscures the real, good examples of Spanish words and expressions commonly used in English (particularly slang), including by monolingual speakers, but that have still not been fully assimilated into English, and are still viewed as 'foreign' in some sense (amigo, cojones, loco...). I should put this on the other list's talk page, though. --Miskwito 19:57, 13 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Drone 68.244.163.60 you know noth... Playa is used in English as a geographic term different than beach... Herle King 00:17, 5 May 2007 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.121.147.175 (talk • contribs)

Fact-Checking[edit]

I've gone through the list, checking some of the etymologies that I found suspect with the OED. Where I've found them not to be of Spanish origin I've removed them. Dewrad 00:56, 12 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Good work. Did you see this reference? http://www.etymonline.com/ It may help. User:Ejrrjs says What? 06:28, 12 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

etymologies of "arsenal, casanova, corridor, yum-yum"[edit]

Please visit below webpages.

  • arsenal

http://clave.librosvivos.net/verficha.asp?idelementoaver=3523&cadena=arsenal On the page you can notice following phrase. "ETIMOLOGÍA: Del italiano arsenale."

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/arsenal.html On the page you can notice following phrase. "[Early 16th century. Directly or via French < Italian arzanale < Venetian Italian arzaná < Arabic dār-(aṣ-)ṣinā'a "workshop, factory"]"

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/arsenal?view=uk On the page you can notice following phrase. "— ORIGIN French, or obsolete Italian arzanale, from an Arabic phrase meaning house of industry."

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=arsenal On the page you can notice following phrase. "Etymology: Italian arsenale, ultimately from Arabic dAr sinA'a house of manufacture"

  • casanova

http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9359937 On the page you can notice following phrase. "Italian ecclesiastic, writer, soldier, spy, and diplomatist."

  • corridor

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/corridor.html On the page you can notice following phrase. "[Late 16th century. Via French < Italian corridore < Latin currere "to run"]"

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/corridor?view=uk On the page you can notice following phrase. "— ORIGIN Italian corridore, alteration of corridoio ‘running-place’."

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=corridor On the page you can notice following phrase. "Etymology: Middle French, from Italian dialect (N Italy) corridore, from correre to run, from Latin currere"

  • yum-yum

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/yummy.html On the page you can notice following phrase. "[Late 19th century. < yum, an imitation of the sound of smacking the lips]"

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=yum-yum On the page you can notice following phrase. "Function: interjection"

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=yummy On the page you can notice following phrase. "Yum-yum as an exclamation of pleasure is recorded from 1878." —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.15.77.114 (talk) 10:27, 12 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

For what it's worth, the Online Etymology Dictionary agrees on all four points. Good work. --Miskwito 18:23, 12 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Good work indeed. I can't believe I missed "casanova"... Dewrad 18:37, 12 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Artichoke[edit]

from Arabic, thru Old Spanish and Italian. See http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=artichoke&searchmode=none and Artichoke.User:Ejrrjs says What? 14:10, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

etymology of trampoline[edit]

Please visit below webpages. On the each page you can notice following phrases.

Etymology: Italian trampolino springboard, from trampoli stilts, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Low German trampen to stamp


[Late 18th century. < Italian trampolino "springboard" < trampoli "stilts"]


— ORIGIN Italian trampolino, from trampoli ‘stilts’.


ETIMOLOGÍA: Del italiano trampolino. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.15.77.31 (talk • contribs) 05:24, 24 June 2007

Quadroon[edit]

Is quadroon really Spanish in origin? The spelling looks more French and the expression is from Louisiana. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.230.141.72 (talk) 23:19, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Carajo[edit]

'Carajo' is NOT a euphemism for 'Penis'

wikt:carajo thinks it is. A good citation would be ideal though. -- Quiddity (talk) 21:48, 23 December 2009 (UTC).[reply]

It is: http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/

Miembro viril.

--83.63.242.240 (talk) 18:59, 31 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Uniquely Spanish[edit]

We have a long paragraph listing where Spanish got words, and even explaining the events of 1492! Seems to me it can be replaced by a single sentence, something like "Most these words came to English from Castilian and American Spanish dialects, which in turn got them from various sources." Jim.henderson (talk) 01:03, 21 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cervezas, anyone?[edit]

I'm quite surprized "cerveza" isn't on this list; growing up in SW Florida (Naples), I can attest that at least here, it is exchangeable with "beer".

~Maiya78 10:40, 14 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mock Spanish[edit]

Some of these words can be categorized as mock Spanish and should be removed. Cerveza, adios etc... Asilah1981 (talk) 06:05, 23 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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