Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Nareed

Ate is the formal conjugation of the second person, but it's also the name of a type of gelatinous fruit candy.

You'll never get this kind of insight from a dictionary.

Fecha: 21-3-14
Palabra: Saeta

Today's SWD means dart/arrow.

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast saeta, flecha, y dardo.

Ejemplo time.

La punta de mi seata está roma. = The point of my dart is dull.

Quote: Wizard

Today's SWD means dart/arrow.

I'd no idea.

I've come across this word only once. It's on a song by Joan Manuel Serrat, which BTW I do not understand one bit. it begins:

"Oh, la saeta el cantar
Al Cristo de los gitanos
Siempre con sangre en las manos
Siempre por desenclavar."

See? I don't know what that means. I understand the words, but they amke no coherent meaning. I can only surmise I'm missing lots of cultural references, as the song then goes on about the Adnalusian people and apaprently two types of Christs.

Quote:

La punta de mi seata está roma. = The point of my dart is dull.

That I understand. However: "...mi sAEta.." the rest is not quite as easy. See, hardly anyone uses "roma" to indicate "dullness" and no one uses it by saying "está." You do get to hear the expresion "punta roma" when referring to things like table forks, but then the meaning is "blunt" rather than "dull."

Now, having amde the acquaintance of kitchen cutlery over the past two years, I can tell you I fully understand the difference between sharp and dull. And yet I can't tell you I ever referred to a knife as dull, but rather would say "a este cuchillo le falta filo," or "necesito afilar el cuchillo."

Quote:

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast saeta, flecha, y dardo.

I would drop saeta from my vocabulary. Would because it was never a part of it. Flecha means arrow, both the kind you shoot and the kind used to indicate a direction in a sign. Dardo means dart, usually the kind you throw at a balloon in a real carnival game.

Quote: Nareed

I would drop saeta from my vocabulary. Would because it was never a part of it. Flecha means arrow, both the kind you shoot and the kind used to indicate a direction in a sign. Dardo means dart, usually the kind you throw at a balloon in a real carnival game.

Saeta is 1 in 1.8 million words
Dardo is 1 in 1.4 million words
Flecha is 1 in 200 thousand words

Quote: Nareed

I've come across this word only once. It's on a song by Joan Manuel Serrat, which BTW I do not understand one bit. it begins:
"Oh, la saeta el cantar
Al Cristo de los gitanos
Siempre con sangre en las manos
Siempre por desenclavar."

It would seem that poem is very famous. I found this translation (which seem fairly literal):

Oh, the saeta*, the chant
to Christ of the gypsies,
always with blood on their hands,
always from removing nails

* a holy song sung at processions during Holy Week




Serrat has been dead for 75 years. He lived in Andalusia where he was a professor of French.

Quote: Pacomartin

It would seem that poem is very famous. I found this translation (which seem fairly literal):

Very literal. And still menaingless.

Quote:

Serrat has been dead for 75 years. He lived in Andalusia where he was a professor of French.

Serrat was born in 1943 and I'm sure I'll hear about it when he dies. I think you meant to use a nother name, perhaps the poem's author?

If you want to hear nay of his music, start with other songs like "Uno de mi calle me ha dicho que tiene un amigo que dice conocer a un tipo que un día fue feliz," "Mediterraneo," "Cantares" etc.

Mediterraneo is particularlye vocative and feels very perosnal. let's see

Quizas porque mi niñez sigue jugnado en tus playas
Escondido tras las cañas
Duerme mi primer amor
Llevo tu luz y tu olor
por donde quiera que vaya.

Roughly:

Perhaps because my childhood still plays in your beahces
Hidden behind the reeds
Lies my first love
I carry your light and scent
Wherever I go

Of course the tranlsation doesn't rhyme.

The thing is he tended to put music to existent poems, so I don't know which lyrics are his and which aren't. Either way he has some great lyrics now.

Quote: Nareed

Serrat was born in 1943 and I'm sure I'll hear about it when he dies. I think you meant to use a nother name, perhaps the poem's author?

You are correct. The poem's author, Antonio Machado, that Serrat is quoting in the song, died 75 years ago.

I am not sure how the same word could mean "arrow" and "a religious couplet".

Quote: Pacomartin

I am not sure how the same word could mean "arrow" and "a religious couplet".

How does the same word refer to a wooded area in a city and a safely immobilized car? Languages are funny that way. It would be a very odd language that has no homonyms for widely different concepts.

Quote: Pacomartin

I am not sure how the same word could mean "arrow" and "a religious couplet".

I wasn't going to mention this at first, to keep things from turning into a Beavis and Butthead routine, but one of the definitions of saeta at spanishdict.com is an "ejaculatory prayer." And I thought prayer was boring.

Perhaps that will shed something on the issue.

¡En otro notocias, quiero decir "feliz cumpleaños" a Benito Juarez! ¿Que haceren celebrar?

Quote: Wizard

I¡En otro notocias, quiero decir "feliz cumpleaños" a Benito Juarez! ¿Que haceren celebrar?

"..otrAS notIcias..."

"Haceren" is not a word. I'm not clear on what you're trying to say. "Noticias" means "news." I'm not sure that's the right choice of word for this context.

I wrote and then deleted something of my evaluation of Juarez. It came out surprisingly strong. I'd no idea I depised the man, let alone so vehemently. To give you an idea, the kindest word I used was "dictator."

Quote: Nareed

"..otrAS notIcias..."

Please add 10 push-ups to my tab.

Quote: Nareed

"Haceren" is not a word. I'm not clear on what you're trying to say. "Noticias" means "news." I'm not sure that's the right choice of word for this context.

I was trying to say the future tense of hacer. However, there was a mistake in my mistake. I shouldn't have even attempted to use the "they" form. I should have said haréis, if you'll let me use the vosotros form.

Quote: Nareed

I wrote and then deleted something of my evaluation of Juarez. It came out surprisingly strong. I'd no idea I depised the man, let alone so vehemently. To give you an idea, the kindest word I used was "dictator."

Ooo! I thought he was like the George Washington of Mexico. I don't know him well enough to defend the other side, but hopefully Paco can play the devil's advocate.