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

[Wilson Gray]

Why, I suppose that they could, with the permission of the Spanish
Academy. These Romance languages and their academies! What can you do?

-Wilson

On 7/12/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> 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 4:29 PM -0400 7/12/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >On 7/11/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> >>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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