Understanding Word Origins and Linguistic Evolution in Spanish
Heritage Words
Heritage words are derived from the Latin words included in the language from its origins and have experienced the sound changes characteristic of the evolution of the tongue to form the definitive word. For example, mulierem evolved into mujer (woman); aurum into oro (gold); fabulare into hablar (to talk).
Cultisms
Cultisms are words from Latin and Greek that have been introduced into the language in later historical times and therefore have not experienced the sound changes characteristic of the evolution of the language. Examples include pedagogus becoming pedagogo (pedagogue); activitatem becoming actividad (activity); and radiationem becoming radiación (radiation).
Doublets
Occasionally, a Latin word creates a doublet. Doublets are terms from the same Latin word that have been introduced into the language in two different historical moments, and therefore have led to a heritage word and a cultism. For instance, oculum resulted in both ojo (eye, heritage word) and ocular (eye, cultism); integrum resulted in entero (integer, heritage word) and íntegro (full, cultism).
Loanwords
Loanwords are terms from other languages that have been introduced into the language and adapted phonetically. They are generally designated taking into account the language of origin. Examples include:
- Americanisms: patata (potato), chocolate (chocolate), canoa (canoe), tomate (tomato), tiburón (shark), cacao (cocoa), maíz (corn)
- Anglicisms: fútbol (football), bistec (steak), pijama (pajamas), champú (shampoo), cheque (check), líder (leader), mitin (meeting), club (club)
- Arabisms: alcalde (mayor), alcohol (alcohol), cifra (digit), taza (cup), berenjena (eggplant), azotea (roof), arroz (rice), zanahoria (carrot), almohada (pillow), ojalá (hopefully)
- Gallicisms: manjar (delicacy), batalla (battle), salvaje (savage), mesón (inn), equipaje (luggage), bayoneta (bayonet), detalle (detail), bufanda (scarf)
- Germanisms: espía (spy), guerra (war), espuela (spur), rico (rich), ropa (clothing), yelmo (helmet), Fernando, Elvira, Alfonso
- Italianisms: escopeta (shotgun), capricho (caprice), asalto (assault), fragata (frigate), novela (novel), soneto (sonnet), piloto (pilot)
- Lusisms: caramelo (caramel), mermelada (marmalade), mejillón (mussel), bandeja (tray), pantalla (screen), brinco (jump), buceo (diving)
Neologisms
Neologisms are new words or expressions that have recently joined the language. Some are newly created, but generally, they tend to be loans (or foreign words). Newly created words are often formed through the mechanisms of language: derivation and composition. New loans are usually adopted to describe new technological or scientific realities, and so on.
Acronyms
Acronyms are words formed by joining initial letters or groups of letters of other words, serving as an abbreviation of them. Acronyms can be formed with the initial letters of several words (e.g., OVNI (UFO), ONG (NGO), EE. UU. (USA), ESO, AVE). Some acronyms are formed with the initial and final letters of several words (e.g., Banesto, SIDA (AIDS)).
Subordinate Clauses
Comparative Clauses
Más… que (more… than), mayor que (greater than), mejor que (better than), menos… que (less… than), menor que (less than), peor que (worse than), tan/tanto… como (as/so much… as), igual que (like… that), como (as).
Consecutive Clauses
Tan… que (so… that), tanto… que (so much… that), apenas… que (just… that), así que (so), por lo tanto (therefore), por consiguiente (consequently), de ahí que (hence), por eso (therefore).
Conditional Clauses
Si (if), como (as), a condición de que (on condition that), siempre que (provided that), a menos que (unless), siempre y cuando (whenever).
Concessive Clauses
Aunque (although), cuando (when), a pesar de que (despite the fact that), si bien (although), aun cuando (even then).
Causal Clauses
Porque (because), ya que (because), puesto que (because), debido a que (because), en vista de que (in view of that), gracias a que (thanks to that).
Final Clauses
Para que (so that), a fin de que (in order that), que (that), con el fin de que (in order that), con objeto de que (in order that).