Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Pacomartin

The English cognates are:
Noun augur - A person or diviner who foretells events. (plural augurs)
Noun augury - An omen or prediction. (plural auguries)
Verb augur - To foretell events. (conjugations "augurs", "auguring", "augured")

Thanks; I've never heard of those words. Any connection to Augusto/August?

Quote: Wizard

Thanks; I've never heard of those words. Any connection to Augusto/August?

Yes.

The adjective august 1660s, from Latin augustus "respected and impressive" probably originally "consecrated by the augurs, with favorable auguries". The use of August as a name or title refers to the same thing. The month of August is from Augustus Caesar, literally "Venerable Caesar".



The word augment meaning "to increase" is probably related, but they are not sure why. It may be that diviners were employed to increase crops.

The more popular theory is that it is from Latin avis "bird," because the flights, singing, and feeding of birds, along with entrails from bird sacrifices, were important objects of divination (compare auspicious).

Fecha: 3-5-14
Palabra: Muro

Today's SWD appears in the Harry Potter books all over the place, so I know well that it means wall. I thought the word for wall was pared, you might say. That too. I tend to think that a muro is perhaps stronger, like made of stone, or has some historical significance, like the Berlin Wall or Wailing Wall. I would say a pared is just an ordinary wall. However, I will leave it to the experts to clean up after the mess I usually make of the language.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to confirm or deny a common etymology between muro and the English mural.

Ejemplo time.

Mi álbum favorito de Floyd Rosada es El Muro. = My favorite Pink Floyd album is The Wall.

Quote: Wizard

The assignment for the advanced readers is to confirm or deny a common etymology between muro and the English mural.

Yes

Quote: Wizard

I thought the word for wall was pared, you might say. That too. I tend to think that a muro is perhaps stronger, like made of stone, or has some historical significance, like the Berlin Wall or Wailing Wall. I would say a pared is just an ordinary wall. However, I will leave it to the experts to clean up after the mess I usually make of the language.

I think you are correct. A "muro" is an enclosing wall, or a wall made of adobe. The word does carry a little more significance.

The word mural is also a Spanish word. It can mean the same as in English, but it could also mean "perteneciente o relativo al muro" or "pertaining or related to a wall". It could could also refer to a thing which "extendida, ocupa una buena parte de pared o muro"

------------
The word "pared" is more general. If you were talking about a partition wall dividing two rooms, a straw wall, a wall of people, a side of a solid trapezoid, then you would use this word.



1. f. Obra de albañilería vertical, que cierra o limita un espacio.
2. f. Placa de cualquier material con que se divide o cierra un espacio. Una casucha miserable con paredes de paja.
3. f. Superficie lateral de un cuerpo.
4. f. Superficie plana y alta que forman las cebadas y los trigos cuando están bastante crecidos y cerrados.
5. f. Conjunto de cosas o personas que se aprietan o unen estrechamente.
6. f. Dep. En el fútbol, jugada entre dos compañeros del mismo equipo, que consiste en que el primero, con el fin de eludir al contrario, pasa la pelota al segundo, que se la devuelve inmediatamente unos metros más adelantada. Hacer la pared.

¿Feliz día de las guerras de estrellas, todos! = Happy Star Wars day everybody!

May the Fourth be with you. (I won't translate that, lest the joke be lost in translation.)

Fecha: 4-5-14
Palabra: Ojera

Today's SWD means the bag under the eye. Funny Spanish would have a specific word for this, but not for toe.

Ejemplo time.

Obento ojeras cuando no tener demasiado sueño. = I get bags under my eyes when I don't get enough sleep.

Quote: Wizard

Funny Spanish would have a specific word for this, but not for toe.

guante (“glove”) → guantera (“glove compartment”)
regar (“to water”) → regadera (“watering can”)
sordo (“deaf”) → sordera (“deafness”)
borracho (“drunk”) → borrachera (“drunkness”)
higo (“fig”) → higuera (“fig tree”)
mora (“blackberry”) → morera (“blackberry plant”)
ojo("eye")→ojera

It's even funnier if you think it literally implies a place where you keep your eyes.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Fecha: 5-5-14
Palabra: Entornar

Today's SWD means to half close. It seems whenever I see the word it refers to eyes, as if to squint. I'm not sure if other uses, like a half closed door, are allowed.


The assignment for the advanced readers is to confirm or deny a common etymology with tornar (to turn).

Ejemplo time.

Sin mis gafas, necesito entornar a leer. = Without my glasses, I need to squint to read.

Quote: Wizard

Today's SWD means to half close. It seems whenever I see the word it refers to eyes, as if to squint. I'm not sure if other uses, like a half closed door, are allowed.
The assignment for the advanced readers is to confirm or deny a common etymology with tornar (to turn).

I think it can also mean leaving a door ajar.

The word entornar has a common etymology with entorno, contorno, retornar, torno, tornillo

The word tornar is usually translated "to return", but it could b "to put back", "to change" or as intransitive "to come back" or even "to revive" (from a state of unconsciousness) .

The phrase (tornar a + infinitive) means to do "the infinitive" again.

For example if "pedir" means "to ask" then "tornar a pedir" means to "make a request".

Quote: Wizard

Sin mis gafas, necesito entornar a leer. = Without my glasses, I need to squint to read.

I see squint translated as "entrecerrar los ojos" where "entrecerrar" means "to half close"

Fecha: 6-5-14
Palabra: Espabilar

Today's SWD means to wake up.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast espabilar y despertar.

Ejemplo time.

Espabila y huele el cafe. = Wake up and smell the coffee.

Quote: Wizard

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast espabilar y despertar.

The words espabilar, and despertar are all translated as "to wake up". Writing the DRAE definitions does not provide much help.

espabilar = Salir del sueño (to exit sleep)
despertar= Dejar de dormir (to leave sleep)

The word "despertar" is about 500 times more popular than "espabilar" according to Google Ngram, so I am assuming that Nareed would say it is a rarified word.

The phrase "Quien no se espabila es porque no quiere" seems popular, but I am not sure of the best translation. I think it is something like
"one does not wake up {only} because one does not want to".