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

[Elizabeth Martineze-Gibson]

one little correction..."madrastra" is a stepmother, "suegra" is
mother-in-law, but stepmother of course also carries a negative connotation.

On Sat, 22 Mar 2003 09:11:57 -0500 (EST) "James A. Landau" wrote:

> 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.



Elizabeth A. Martinez-Gibson, Assoc. Professor of Spanish
College of Charleston
Dept. of Hispanic Studies
9 Liberty Street
JC Long 310
Charleston, SC 29424

(853) 953-8066
martineze at cofc.edu