Bodega v. Mercado and Tienda

martinezg martinezg at KENYON.EDU
Wed Mar 29 21:37:31 UTC 2000


"Bodega", to my South Texas ear, refers to a warehouse or storage facility of
some kind. The word for grocery store most commonly used in South Texas (Rio
Grande Valley) is "abarroteria" although "tienda" "(super)mercado" and
sometimes "groceria" are used.

The "bodega" in NYC first turned up in the first quarter of the 19th century
refering to grocery stores in the Puerto Rican barrios. I am not sure whether
that is the most common term on the island though. I do know that in the
Dominican Republic the most common word is "colmado". I suspect that the word
"bodega" is the most common one in Cuban Spanish, though. My Cuban father used
to ask me and my South Texas friends to go the "bodega" and pick up some
whatever. My friends would invariably ask why we had to go the storage.

At any rate, in the historical development of New York's barrio the "bodega"
is reported to have played a crucial role in defining the parameters and
extension of the community. Sanchez Korrol argues that "it was precisely in
the proliferation of commercial and professional establishments - small
businesses, bodegas, botanicas, restaurants and boarding houses - that the
physical characteristics of the Puerto Rican community were most sharply
defined" (Virginia Sanchez-Korrol _From Colonia to Community_ 2nd ed.
Berkeley: UC Press, 1994, p. 62. See also all of Chapter 3 for a more
extensive discussion). Marqueta, on the other hand, was used in the early days
of the Puerto Rican community to refer to an outdoor market where fresh fruits
and vegetables were sold. This is the same meaning that we give to "mercado"
in South Texas. Additionally, I would argue that "bodega" made its way into
the NYC lexicon largely due to social significance that it has in the barrio.
Really, a bodega was much more than a simple grocery store, it was place for
gossiping, playing dominos, etc. It had become a social institution and a
symbol of the Puerto Rican community. Ortiz Cofer makes this clear in her
childhood memories of "la bodega". "... my mother insisted that she could cook
only with products whose labels she could read, and so, during the week, I
accompanied her and my little brother to La Bodega - a hole in the wall
grocery store accross the street from El Building ... We would linger at La
bodega, for it was there that mother breathed best, taking in the familiar
aromas of the foods she knew from Mama's kitchen, and it was also there that
she got to speak to the other women of El Building" (Judith Ortiz Cofer,
Silent Dancing). In short, then, I believe that the presence of the word
"bodega" is largely or perhaps better originally due to Puerto Rican
influence, and a term like Hispanic/Puerto Rican Grocery Store really doesn't
capture the meaning of what a bodega really is or was.

Glenn

_______________________
Glenn Martinez
Visiting Instructor of Spanish/Kenyon Dissertation Fellow
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Kenyon College
Gambier, OH 43022



>
>Question then, does bodega make it into the New York's lexicon and the
>pages of the New York Times because the majority of Spanish-speaking
>immigrants are from Peru and Venezuela (Central America)? I would guess,
>therefore, that bodega is not the Mexican word for "grocer's" or that's
>what we'd call it in Texas.
>
>Has there ever been a study or comparison of what things are called in
>different regions due to immigrant influence?
>
>Kathleen E. Miller
>Research Assistant to William Safire
>The New York Times



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