Hello friends! It’s been a long time since I last came around here. Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes, and sorry for disappearing.
While catching up with my messages, one of my friends asked me to give more examples of Greek and Arabic influence in the Spanish language, based on a conversation we had before. I got excited while writing and realized this might be interesting for several people, so here I am explaining a bit more.
Spanish is a language shaped by many cultures throughout history, and its vocabulary tells that story very clearly. I want to give some examples of how different civilizations left their mark on the language we use every day.
Like, for example, words like zanahoria (carrot) come both from Greek and Arabic!! You can look up “zanahoria etymology” and you’ll get the origin.
And words in Spanish beginning with al-, like almohada (pillow), almacén (convenience store), algodón (cotton), and some very common ones like azúcar (sugar), come from Arabic.
Spanish has had Latin and Greek influences since the time the Roman Empire took place.
As for Arabic, the Moros invaded the Iberian Peninsula for — I believe — around 8 centuries! Later, what is now Spain took it back and began to “explore the world”, and that’s how they colonized America (the continent!!). This is how Spanish spread throughout our countries.
Once here, native peoples all across the continent continued to use their languages every day. Because of this, in many Latin American countries, Spanish is highly mixed with indigenous languages.
That’s why, for example, in Argentina we use words like cancha (sports stadium), quincho (a space specifically dedicated to cooking meat during the typical family Sunday reunion), pilcha (clothes), choclo instead of maíz (corn), which differs from other Spanish-speaking countries in the north. Or the eternal disagreement between North and Central America versus South America: palta instead of aguacate (avocado). Our indigenous peoples had, in each of our countries, a huge impact on our everyday language.
Then came the great immigration. From the late 1800s to the late 1900s, Argentina and other port countries like Brazil and Uruguay received probably three major waves of immigrants from Europe, either escaping wars or looking for better opportunities. Some people even called it what is now a common phrase: hacer la América (to make it in the Americas).
They also influenced our lunfardo (slang language). We took many words directly from Italian dialects and regional languages, like laburo (from lavoro), mina (woman), pibe (kid), or fiaca (laziness). We also incorporated words from Spain’s regional languages like Galician and Catalan, smaller contributions from Portuguese such as bondi (bus), and many other words taken from different European languages.
And that’s the beauty of Latin American countries: we are a mix of cultures that found their place here over and over again throughout the years, alongside cultures that have been here since the beginning of time.
✨✨⚡️ I’d love to read about your languages as well!! 💗
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