In this post, I look at words inherited by both Welsh and Irish from: Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the presumed ancestor of the Indo-European family of languages (52 words). Proto-Celic, the presumed ancestor of the Celtic languages (8 words). The information comes from the IE-COR database—a database of cognates for 170 words (lexemes) in 109 modern and…… Continue reading Where did Welsh and Irish words come from?
Tag: Spanish
Up to 0% fat
This poster is keen to stress how fat-free the advertised product is. But somehow, the drafters mixed up their directions. The text says, in both Spanish and English that the product could contain ‘up to 0% fat’. So, the product has 0% fat, or even less—but wait, ‘less than 0%’ is a negative number. That…… Continue reading Up to 0% fat
Conjugated prepositions in Welsh and Irish (and Hungarian and Finnish)
The Celtic languages have an unusual feature: inflections suffixed to most simple prepositions used with pronouns. I discuss below: conjugated prepositions in Welsh, and in Irish; conjugated postpositions in the 2 main Uralic languages (Hungarian and Finnish); conjugated adpositions (prepositions or postpositions) in languages around the world. Welsh In Welsh, the suffix forms typically have…… Continue reading Conjugated prepositions in Welsh and Irish (and Hungarian and Finnish)
Inscription in Old Spanish in Cordoba
The Mezquita in Cordoba (Spain) has a rich and varied history, having been a mosque and later a cathedral. It contains many inscriptions. Many are in Arabic, but here is a picture of one in Latin or old Spanish. Online sources suggest that the non-Arabic inscriptions are in Latin (perhaps medieval Latin). But I see…… Continue reading Inscription in Old Spanish in Cordoba
Bleeding sangría
Sangría is a popular Spanish drink made with wine and chopped fruit. Traditionally, sangría was made with red wine and the name is related to sangre (‘blood’). This restaurant we visited in Seville a couple of years ago decided to translate the name on the menu literally as ‘bleeding’: sangría also means bloodletting. I’m not…… Continue reading Bleeding sangría
Sounds and spelling of Spanish
This post summarises the spelling and pronunciation of Spanish. I discuss below mainly standard Spanish of Spain (Castilian), but point out a few of the differences for Spanish regions and Latin America. Spanish Alphabet The Spanish alphabet includes: 26 letters also used in the English alphabet (though <k> and <w> are rare, used mainly in…… Continue reading Sounds and spelling of Spanish
Rhotic consonants
Sounds similar to the English sound spelled with the letter <r> are called rhotics. This post looks at rhotics. Rhotics are named after the Ancient Greek letter ρ (rho). Rhotics vary greatly in their: manner of articulation; and place of articulation. Manner of articulation Different rhotics are produced in different manners: as a trill (repeated…… Continue reading Rhotic consonants
North, south, east and west
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Romance languages acquired 2 sets of words for points of the compass: some languages spoken in areas with Atlantic coastlines had nautical terms borrowed from English, via French into Spanish and Portuguese. other languages had words used in the Mediterranean, originating in Italian and spreading to Provençal, Catalan…… Continue reading North, south, east and west
Why did two Spanish sibilants end up as /θ/ and /x/?
I’ve often wondered why standard European Spanish (Castilian) pronounces the letters written<c> and <j> as /θ/ and /x/. Penny (2002) and Alkire and Rosen (2010) explain that this comes from the history of sibilants in Spanish. Old Spanish sibilants In the 15th century, Old Spanish had 7 sibilants (table 1). Table 1. Old Spanish sibilants…… Continue reading Why did two Spanish sibilants end up as /θ/ and /x/?
Medieval sources of some French words
I picked up last year a useful book, aimed at a general audience, about the medieval origins of over 100 French words and phrases. The book is Les mots du Moyen Âge, Fabienne Calvayrac, Marion Vialade (2011, nouvelle edition) I’ve summarised below some that caught my eye. If you are interested, the book has a…… Continue reading Medieval sources of some French words