Nachos (1954; 1940, by Ignacio Amaya/Anaya?)

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:29 PM -0400 7/12/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>On 7/11/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the
>>mail header -----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Nachos (1954; 1940, by Ignacio Amaya/Anaya?)
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>At 4:37 PM -0400 7/11/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>>"Anaya" is a common Hispanic name of Basque origin, in which language
>>>it means "brother." (The more mature among us may recall the
>>>Hispanic-American rassling hero, "Cyclone" Anaya, from ca.1950. To the
>>>best of my recollection, Anaya didn't use any first name other than
>>>"Cyclone.")
>>>
>>>Unfortunately, I can't say with certainty whether the name, "Amaya,"
>>>is or is not an actual Spanish name. IMO, it's not.
>>>
>>>FWI, /ci/ > [ch] isn't restricted to Mexican Spanish. Cf., e.g., the
>>>nickname, "Chano," of the late, great Cuban conguero, Luciano Pozo.
>>>
>>>-Wilson
>>
>>Ah, but isn't Luciano itself an Italian name, where it would in fact
>>be regularly rendered [luCano], as in tenor Pavoratti or composer
>>Berio?
>>
>>LH
>
>
>For the sake of argument, let us assume that Spanish "Luciano," like
>unto Italian "Luciano," is borrowed from Latin Lucianus." In this
>case, the argument holds. And, of course, were Spanish "Luciano" a
>borrowing from Italian, it would have the spelling, "Luchano" and not
>"Luciano."
>
>-Wilson, somewhat familiar with Romance linguistics
>

True, if the name is fully adopted as a Spanish
name the spelling would shift to fit the
pronunciation.  But after all we still spell
"cello" or, for that matter, "Marcello" à
l'italienne and pronounce them that way too,
rather than either spelling them with <ch>
("chello", "Marchello") or pronouncing them with
/s/.  (Compare French "violoncelle" [-sEl].)  Why
couldn't Spanish speakers do the same with
"Luciano"?

LH

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