Spanish Words Adopted by English

(http://engl440-mueller.wikispaces.umb.edu/Spanglish-Katie+Volta)
no copyright infringement intended

Well, it's not about Spanglish , rather about Spanish words adopted by English. And about Romenglish and English words adopted by Romanian.

Rodeo, pronto, taco, enchilada, are they Spanish or English, or both? English, like most languages, has expanded over the years through assimilation of words from other tongues. As people of different languages intermingle, inevitably some of the words of one language become words of the other (http://spanish.about.com/cs/historyofspanish/a/spanishloanword.htm).

I read today a short essay by Dan Caragea: he is preoccupied by the dangerous trend of using casually English words and expressions by Romanian speakers, when need is and when need is not. This trend is not particular to Romanian, it happens everywhere, and the effects can be perverse. Normally one should use Romanian words when speaking Romanian and English words when speaking English, as simple as that.

Well, it's not that simple. There are different situations: sometimes the use of an English word in Romanian is natural, sometimes is not. It's natural to intermingle English and Romanian in the computer jargon, for instance. Here almost everybody agree. There are other situations when intermingling English and Romanian is just a mark of preciousness and of ridicule. And there are situations when English words, rightly or wrongly, were adopted by Romanian, and became Romanian words. Is it good, is it bad? Here nobody seem to agree one another.

No wonder that the essay of Dan Caragea raised many commentaries. I was particularly interested in one of these commentaries (made by Zack Atila): it was about a similar trend in the American English: the adoption of Spanish words. He gave a long list (by no means complete, he said) of Spanish loanwords that have assimilated themselves into the English vocabulary:

adios (from adiós)
adobe (originally Coptic tobe, "brick")
aficionado
albino
alcove (from Spanish alcoba, originally Arabic al-qubba)
alfalfa (originally Arabic al-fasfasah. Many other English words beginning with "al" were originally Arabic, and many may have had a Spanish-language connection in becoming English.)
alligator (from el lagarto, "the lizard")
alpaca (animal similar to a llama, from Aymara allpaca)
armadillo (literally, "the little armed one")
armada
arroyo (English regionalism for "stream")
avocado (originally a Nahuatl word, ahuacatl)

bajada (a geological term referring to a type of alluvial slope at the base of a mountain, from bajada, meaning "slope")
banana (word, originally of African origin, entered English via either Spanish or Portuguese)
bandoleer (type of belt, from bandolera)
barracuda
barbecue (from barbacoa, a word of Caribbean origin)
bizarre (some sources, not all, say this word came from the Spanish bizarro)
bonanza (although the Spanish bonanza can be used synonymously with the English cognate, it more often means "calm seas" or "fair weather")
booby (from bobo, meaning "silly" or "selfish")
bravo (from either Italian or Old Spanish)
bronco (means "wild" or "rough" in Spanish)
buckaroo (possibly from vaquero, "cowboy")
bunco (probably from banco, "bank")
burrito (literally "little donkey")
burro

cafeteria (from cafetería)
caldera (geological term)
canary (Old Spanish canario entered English by way of French canarie)
canasta (the Spanish word means "basket")
cannibal (originally of Caribbean origin)
canoe (the word was originally Caribbean)
canyon (from cañon)
cargo (from cargar, "to load")
castanet (from castañeta)
chaparral (from chaparro, an evergreen oak)
chaps (from Mexican Spanish chaparreras)
chihuahua (dog breed named after Mexican city and state)
chile relleno (Mexican food)
chili (from chile, derived from Nahuatl chilli)
chili con carne (con carne means "with meat")
chocolate (originally xocolatl, from Nahuatl, an indigenous Mexican language)
churro (Mexican food)
cigar, cigarette (from cigarro)
cilantro cinch (from cincho, "belt")
cocaine (from coca, from Quechua kúka)
cockroach (Two English words, "cock" and "roach," were combined to form "cockroach." It is believed, but isn't certain, that the words were chosen because of their similarity to the Spanish cucaracha.)
coco (type of tree, from icaco, originally Arawak ikaku from the Caribbean)
comrade (from camarada, "roommate")
conquistador
condor (originally from Quechua, an indigenous South American language)
corral coyote (from the Nahuatl coyotl)
creole (from criollo)
criollo (English term refers to someone indigenous to South America; Spanish term originally referred to anyone from a particular locality)

dago (offensive ethnic term comes from Diego)
dengue (Spanish imported the word from Swahili)
derecho (a type of windstorm that can be found in the U.S. Midwest)
desperado dorado (type of fish)

El Niño (weather pattern, means "The Child" due to its appearance around Christmas)
embargo (from embargar, to bar)
enchilada (participle of enchilar, "to season with chili")

fajita (diminutive of faja, a belt or sash, probably so named due to strips of meat)
fiesta (in Spanish, it can mean a party, a celebration, a feast — or a fiesta)
filibuster (from filibustero, derived from Dutch vrijbuiter, "pirate")
flan (a type of custard)
flauta (a fried, rolled tortilla)
flotilla frijol (English regionalism for a bean)

galleon (from Spanish galeón)
garbanzo (type of bean)
guacamole (originally from Nahuatl ahuacam, "avocado," and molli, "sauce")
guerrilla (In Spanish, the word refers to a small fighting force. A guerrilla fighter is a guerrillero.)

hammock (from jamaca, a Caribbean Spanish word)
habanero (a type of pepper; in Spanish, the word refers to something from Havana)
hacienda (in Spanish, the initial h is silent)
huarache (type of sandal)
hurricane (from huracán, originally an indigenous Caribbean word)
hoosegow (slang term for a jail comes from Spanish juzgado, participle of juzgar, "to judge")

iguana (originally from Arawak and Carib iwana)
incomunicado jaguar (from Spanish and Portuguese, originally from Guarani yaguar)

jalapeño jerky (the word for dried meet comes from charqui, which in turn came from the Quechua ch'arki)
jicama (originally from Nahuatl)

key (the word for a small island comes from the Spanish cayo, possibly of Caribbean origin)

lariat (from la reata, "the lasso")
lasso (from lazo)
llama (originally from Quechua)

machete
machismo
macho (macho usually means simply "male" in Spanish)
maize (from maíz, originally from Arawak mahíz)
manatee (from manatí, originally from Carib)
mano a mano (literally, "hand to hand")
margarita (a woman's name meaning "daisy")
mariachi (a type of traditional Mexican music, or a musician)
matador (literally, "killer")
marijuana (usually mariguana or marihuana in Spanish)
mesa (In Spanish it means "table," but it also can mean "tableland," the English meaning.)
menudo (Mexican food)
mesquite (tree name originally from Nahuatl mizquitl)
mestizo (a type of mixed ancestry)
mole (The name for this delightful chocolate-chili dish is sometimes misspelled as "molé" in English in an attempt to prevent mispronunciation.)
mosquito mulatto (from mulato)
mustang (from mestengo, "stray")

nacho
nada (nothing)
negro (comes from either the Spanish or Portuguese word for the color black)
nopal (type of cactus, from Nahuatl nohpalli)

ocelot (originally Nahuatl oceletl; the word was adopted into Spanish and then French before becoming an English word)
olé (in Spanish, the exclamation can be used in places other than bullfights)
oregano (from orégano)

paella (a savory Spanish rice dish)
palomino (originally meant a white dove in Spanish)
papaya (originally Arawak)
patio (In Spanish, the word most often refers to a courtyard.)
peccadillo (from pecadillo, diminutive of pecado, "sin")
peso (Although in Spanish a peso is also a monetary unit, it more generally means a weight.)
peyote (originally Nahuatl peyotl)
picaresque (from picaresco)
pickaninny (offensive term, from pequeño, "small")
pimento (Spanish pimiento)
pinole (a meal made of grain and beans; originally Nahuatl pinolli)
pinta (tropical skin disease)
pinto (Spanish for "spotted" or "painted")
piñata piña colada (literally meaning "strained pineapple")
piñon (type of pine tree, sometimes spelled "pinyon")
plantain (from plátano or plántano)
plaza poncho (Spanish adopted the word from Araucanian, an indigenous South American language)
potato (from batata, a word of Caribbean origin)
pronto (from an adjective or adverb meaning "quick" or "quickly")
pueblo (in Spanish, the word can mean simply "people")
punctilio (from puntillo, "little point," or possibly from Italian puntiglio)
puma (originally from Quechua)

quadroon (from cuaterón)
quesadilla
quirt (type of riding whip, comes from Spanish cuarta)

ranch (Rancho often means "ranch" in Mexican Spanish, but it can also mean a settlement, camp or meal rations.)
reefer (drug slang, possibly from Mexican Spanish grifa, "marijuana")
remuda (regionalism for a relay of horses)
renegade (from renegado)
rodeo
rumba (from rumbo, originally referring to the course of a ship and, by extension, the revelry aboard)

salsa (In Spanish, almost any kind of a sauce or gravy can be referred to as salsa.)
sarsaparilla (from zarza, "bramble," and parrilla, "small vine")
sassafras (from sasafrás)
savanna (from obsolete Spanish çavana, originally Taino zabana, "grassland")
savvy (from sabe, a form of the verb saber, "to know")
serape (Mexican blanket)
serrano (type of pepper)
shack (possibly from Mexican Spanish jacal, from the Nahuatl xcalli, "adobe hut")
siesta silo sombrero (In Spanish, the word, which is derived from sombra, "shade," can mean almost any kind of hat, not just the traditional broad-rimmed Mexican hat.)
spaniel (ultimately from hispania, the same root that gave us the words "Spain" and español)
stampede (from estampida)
stevedore (from estibador, one who stows or packs things)
stockade (from a French derivation of the Spanish estacada, "fence" or "stockade")

tobacco (from tabaco, a word possibly of Caribbean origin)
taco (In Spanish, a taco can refer to a stopper, plug or wad. In other words, a taco originally meant a wad of food. Indeed, in Mexico, the variety of tacos is almost endless, far more varied than the beef, lettuce and cheese combination of U.S.-style fast food.)
tamale (The Spanish singular for this Mexican dish is tamal. The English comes from an erroneous backformation of the Spanish plural, tamales.)
tamarillo (type of tree, derived from tomatillo, a small tomato)
tango
tequila (named after a Mexican town of the same name)
tejano (type of music)
tomatillo
tomato (from tomate, derived from Nahuatl tomatl)
toreador
tornado (from tronada, thunderstorm)
tortilla (in Spanish, an omelet often is a tortilla)
tuna (from atún)

vamoose (from vamos, a form of "to go")
vanilla (from vainilla)
vaquero (English regionalism for a cowboy)
vicuña (animal similar to a llama, from Quechua wikuña)
vigilante (from adjective for "vigilant")
vinegarroon (from vinagrón)

wrangler (some sources say word is derived from Mexican Spanish caballerango, one who grooms horses, while other sources say the word comes from German)

yucca (from yuca, originally a Caribbean word)

zapateado (a type of dance emphasizing movement of the heels)

Coming back to the issue of Romenglish: in many cases it's just stupid, snobbish and perverse. Some other times it is not Romenglish, rather just English words adopted by Romanian: they became part of the Romanian vocabulary. Rightly or wrongly, anyway adopted. Language is like love: il a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas.


(Dan Caragea)

(Una Vida Entre Libros)