Spanish Word of the Day

Fecha: 26-12-13
Palabra: Unidad

For the next seven days we'll be celebrating Kwanzaa at the Spanish Word of the Day.



The first of the Seven Principles is Umoja (Swahili) = Unidad = Unity.

I've actually already been writing about unity this week. In the thread Can the Pope change Catholic Church doctrine?, FrGamble asserted that with no god there is no basis for morality and thus no right or wrong. My response was that as a species we advance further as a team rather than each member seeking to only advance himself. I would argue that because humans have understood the concept of the collective good, or unity, we have evolved as far as we have.

Ejemplo time.

Con unidad nosotros estemos de die, divididos caigamos. = United we stand, divided we fall. (For such a simple sentence, this was hard to translate). How many push ups to I owe?

Quote: Wizard

FrGamble asserted that with no god there is no basis for morality and thus no right or wrong.

A moral code rests upon a standard of value. If the standard is god-worship, then there is no basis for morality without a deity. However, if you pick a rational standard of value, such as human life, then you're much better off without a made-up god to worship.

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Con unidad nosotros estemos de die, divididos caigamos. = United we stand, divided we fall. (For such a simple sentence, this was hard to translate). How many push ups to I owe?

Oh, there aren't enough push-ups in the world.

1) "die" is not a Spanish word. I'm guessing you meant "pie," meaning "foot."
2) "estemos" is the wrong conjugation. You want "estamos." In any case, that's the wrong choice.
3) "caigamos" is also wrong. You want "caemos."

Now: "Unidos estamos de pie, divididos caemos." Which just goes to show some sentiments don't translate well. But fortunately there is a similar phrase in Spanish which does not translate well into English: "Es mas digno morir de pie que vivir de rodillas." This was said by Benito Juarez in relation to the French invasion of Mexico. The Argentine comic strip "Mafalda" has a hilarious take on this, where the lazy, yet imaginative character Felipe ponders "¿Será vergonzoso subsistir sentado?"

"Stand" is one of those words that can be easily translated, yet does not mean the same thing and has no real equivalent. The verb is "parar" but it means "to stand up." It also means "to stop," and that's not a mere coincidence. In regular use it denotes immobility and idleness. So it is an action that denotes innaction, ironically enough. say work stops for an extended time on the construction of a building, one would say "la obra esta parada desde hace meses" (work on the buidlign stopped months ago). See?

So it's not a good choice to denote standing as against an enemy, or even saying that a ruling, legal or otherwise, stands after appeal or review.

Juarez's aphorism and Felipe's take on it are left as an exercise.

It has been suggested that "united we stand" would better be translated as "united we have strength" in Spanish or "La unión hace la fuerza".

Even in British English there are differences. British politicians "stand for office" instead of "run for office".

Old English standan meant "occupy a place; stand firm; congeal; stay, continue, abide; be valid, be, exist, take place; oppose, resist attack; stand up, be on one's feet; consist, amount to". So the word has many uses.

Quote: Pacomartin

It has been suggested that "united we stand" would better be translated as "united we have strength" in Spanish or "La unión hace la fuerza".

The translation comes off as "union makes strength" or "union provides strength." The problem with that is that in english it seems to be pro-union as in a labor union. At least these days. Pro-Union would have meant something far different in, say, 1865.

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Even in British English there are differences. British politicians "stand for office" instead of "run for office".

I hear in Britain witnesses at a trial actually stand when they take the witness stand, too. Whereas in American TV and movies they sit ;)

Quote: Nareed

1) "die" is not a Spanish word. I'm guessing you meant "pie," meaning "foot."
2) "estemos" is the wrong conjugation. You want "estamos." In any case, that's the wrong choice.
3) "caigamos" is also wrong. You want "caemos."

1) That was typo. I truly meant pie. Expect a lot more typos this week as I hurt my thumb skiing today.
2,3) I was trying to use the subjunctive, obviously incorrectly. Just goes to show I should know my place and stay away from the exotic conjugations.

Quote: Nareed

Juarez's aphorism and Felipe's take on it are left as an exercise.

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I when Prince Hal finds the cowardly Falstaff pretending to be dead on the battlefield, the prince assumes he has been killed. After the prince leaves the stage, Falstaff rationalizes “The better part of Valour, is Discretion; in the which better part, I have saved my life”

Falstaff is saying that the best part of courage is caution, which we are to take as a joke. Truly courageous people may be cautious, but caution is not the most important characteristic of courage.

Approximations are:
"It is more dignified to die on your feet than to survive on your knees", and "Should I be ashamed to survive by being still?"

Fecha: 27-12-13
Palabra: autodeterminación

The second principle of Kwanzaa is:

Kujichagulia (Swahili)
Self-Determination (English)
Autodeterminación (Spanish)

Since this one is an easy cognate, I'll let the advanced readers have the day off.

Ejemplo time.

Teneremos autodeterminación a sobreviver un luego rato en la isla. = We will need self-determination to survive a long time on the island.

Quote: Pacomartin

Approximations are:
"It is more dignified to die on your feet than to survive on your knees", and "Should I be ashamed to survive by being still?"

Not bad.

The problem is that "more dignified" makes no sense in English. Although the second aprt of the aphorims "...than to live on one's knees" actually does. Oh, my attempt: "'Tis more worthy to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees." Even so that's too literal. So I'd go with "'Tis more worthy for man to die on his feet than to live on his knees."

Felipe wonders "Would it be shameful to survive sitting down?"

You know, I think I'm beginning to understand why my highschool history teacher developed such a sarcastic wit...

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Teneremos autodeterminación a sobreviver un luego rato en la isla. = We will need self-determination to survive a long time on the island.

I litreally cannot make sense of any of it.

Self-determination refers to a people's or nation's right to rule themselves, make their own laws, etc, as opposed to being ruled by an outside party. I just don't see how this applies to the castaways on that old show.

Now, "teneremos" is not a word. You probably wnated "tenDremos." That means "we will have." The second part literally re-translates as "...a later while on the island."


I really should look my former teacher up and apologize for some real blunders I recall making on her class. Why she dind't flunk me on an oral exam where the question was "what did the French gain by having Napoleon as emperor?" does remain a mystery to this day.

Quote: Nareed

You probably wanted "tenDremos." That means "we will have."

I was told in Oaxaca that most Mexicans did not use the formal "future tense" (unlike European Spanish). In Mexico it was more common to use an "informal future" which is a present tense form of the verb ir plus the preposition "a" plus an infinitive.

tendremos == "vamos a tener"

As you know, we do not have a formal conjugation for future tense in English.