Sunday, July 1, 2007

Three odd words

Here are examples of some Spanish words I find odd or noteworthy:

  • liderazgo : leadership (with the kind of etymology that presumably gives members of the RAE, the Real Academia Española, the fantods, deriving as it does from the Spanglish "líder").
  • esdrújulo/a : bearing the stress on the antepenultimate syllable (example - "esdrújula"); what surprises me about this word is its very existence.
  • celestina : a procuress, or madam. Such a mellifluous word deserves a less shabby meaning.

Famous depictions of la celestina in art include those by Picasso and Sorolla (see Friday's post):

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