LL-L "Idiomatica" 2007.05.30 (05) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  30 May 2007 - Volume 05

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From: Ulpi Alvarez <email at ulpialvarez.com>
Subject: LL-L "Songs" 2007.05.29 (06) [E/Spanish]

After doing some research, here I am again.

>From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Songs
>The spelling is the original (including ir- ~ hir-) from the mid-19th
century. This is how it is written in early editions.

I didn't notice the song was so old, thus you were right and the spelling is
acceptable. At first I though it was some sort of phonetic transliteration
which seems to me quite common even nowadays among Spanish-speaking
americans (particularly with c/z/s and h or lack of it).

Anyway, I found something curious checking a historic database from my
University's library: "Yglesia Catedral" appears quite often in 17th/18th
century texts, but it refers to what we now simply call 'Catedral'. I cannot
tell if any Spanish-speaking community still uses both words to
differentiate a cathedral from a regular church, but in Spain (and we are
the minority among speakers of Spanish) that's not the case anymore.

>According this, this guachinanga would be something like "nice girl/woman."

As for 'guachinango', I'm afraid I won't be able to shed much light on that,
it was the first time I heard the word. But to me and according to the
definitions from the dictionary, I would say it applies to someone who
behaves/is a mix of 'slippery' and 'smooth' rather than 'mocking'. But
please, bear in mind I didn't major in Spanish and although it's my mother
tongue, sometimes I find myself not being able to properly communicate with
other natives who use lots of local idioms.

Best regards,

Ulpi

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Songs

Thanks, Ulpi!

This morning I posted something in which I shared a bit more information
about the word, among others things:

I've done a bit of research on this and have come to the conclusion that it
all goes back to the Nahuatl place name Cuauhchicnauhco [kwaʊhʧikˈ'naʊhko],
literally meaning "place of nine timbers,"* which I believe to be that of
today's Guachinango in Jalisco Province. So I assume that the fish is called
after the area as are the people and their supposed characteristics.

* "Lugar de nueve maderas"

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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