Glossary of New Mexican Spanish (1934) (part one)

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 03/20/2003 5:13:02 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:


> abogadito...smart alec

"abogadito" is the diminutive -ito applied to "abogado", which is Spanish for
"lawyer". The diminutive generally adds a connotation the the item is cute,
endearing, etc.  Conversely the augmentative generally adds a connotation of
unlikeable, obnoxious, etc.  For example, from "madre" ("mother") we get
diminutive "madrina" (godmother, "hada madrina" is "fairy godmother") and
augmentative "madrastra" ("mother-in-law").
Hence "abogadito" could be "cute little lawyer"

> aguas frescas...soft drinks
>
perhaps the source of the name "Fresca" for a diet soft drink

> cocedora...cook
> cocedor...pot

sexist.  "cocedor" literally is "cooker".  Masculine is the pot, feminine is
the cook.

> cuatrojos (slang)...little boys who wear glasses

contraction of "cuatro ojos", literally "four eyes".  Independent coinage or
translation of the English expression?

>
> frijol verde...string bean

literally "green bean"

> gallina de la tierra...turkey


diminutive of "gallo de la tierra", "chicken of the land", somehow converted
to feminine

> mula (slang)...whiskey (white mule)
> mulas (slang)...crutches

obvious borrowings of two meanings of the English word "mule", namely white
mule and a kind of footwear

> naranjon...grapefruit

augmentative of "naranja" ("orange", both the color and the fruit)

>
> pando...stuffed from overeating

compare "Sancho Panza" ("Sancho with a paunch")


> Pg. 25:
> papas-dulces...sweet-potatoes

"la papa" is "(white) potato", "el papa" is the Pope, as a certain Florida
T-shirt maker discovered.  "dulce" is "sweet" so we have the question of
whether the Spanish or the English was the original.  OED gives no clue.

> pastilla...money given by padrino at a christening; chocolate candy

"padrino" is "godfather"

> pinta (slang)...penitentiary; prison

literally "painted".  Columbus's ship was nicknamed "Pinta" either because it
was gaily painted (perhaps "painted lady"?) or as a pun on the name of the
family which owned the ship.
>
> piscapo barbon...cat-fish

"barbon" means "bearded"


>
> poliada...food made for sick people
> puela...saucepan; frying pan

both appear to be forms of a verb "polar" which I am not familiar with but
which could mean "fry or cook in a pan"


>
> pura uva (slang)...fine; all right

"pure grape"?

> raspa...strawberry ice; sherbet

one would expect this to be rasp-berry sherbet, not strawberry

>
> stufador (estufador)...stove
>
phonetically interesting.  Spanish "eschews" consonant clusters beginning
with /s/ by inserting a vowel before the /s/ if necessary, as in "espeak
espanish".  Here it would seem that the speakers have acquired the Anglo
phonetic habit of allowing a word to start with /st/ rather than requiring
/est/

> trompeta (ponerse una)...to get drunk

literally "to put a trumpet on oneself"


> fongo for hongo...mushroom
>
an odd reversal of a long-standing Grimm's Law change in Spanish, in which
initial "f" gets changed to silent "h", e.g. Latin "facere" --> Spanish
"hacer"

> panqueque...pancake
> torreja...pancake
> tortilla...very thin pancake; kind of bread

A Puerto Rican told me that in Puerto Rico "tortilla" means not a thin
wrapper but rather the kind of pancakes that you buy in La Casa Internacional
de las Panqueques

jamon de almuerzo...bacon

literally "breakfast ham".  The same Puerto Rican was unable to give me the
Spanish word for "bacon", which suggests that US-style bacon (the stuff that
is cut into strips) is not widely known outside Anglo areas of the US

   Sanhuiche...sandwich

It says something (I don't know what) about American cuisine that no European
language has a native expression for Lord Sandwich's invention.