Spanish Vocabulary: An Etymological Approach

Section 1.3. Latin: A Few Useful Tools

SECTION . Latin: A Few Useful Tools There are three easily learned phonetic features of Latin that can be of considerable assistance in augmenting one’s Spanish (and English) vocabulary. () DT and TT S S (or SS) At some point in the path from Indo-European to Latin, a “parasite” s intruded into the combinations dt and tt and eventually took over the whole sound. This was particularly important for the large number of Latin verbs whose root ended in d or t, as the past participle was often formed by adding -tus directly to the root. Thus, DEFEND-TUS S DEFENDSTUS S DEFENSUS Latin constructed numerous nouns and adjectives using the past participle as a base, which explains why in both English and Spanish there are so many “s” adjectives and nouns associated with verbs whose root ends in d or t. For the verb defend, for example: English Spanish (to) defend defender defense defensa defenseless indefenso defensive defensivo (defensor) defensor English defensor is now largely obsolete, having been replaced by defender. Other common verbs showing this pattern include:  A similar transformation occurred in the Germanic languages: cf. wit versus wise.  Note that in two cases the original Latin d has disappeared in Spanish (concluir and excluir , compared to conclude and exclude). We will see in Section . that this is not an infrequent occurrence. T4311.indb 25 T4311.indb 25 8/31/07 6:42:43 AM 8/31/07 6:42:43 AM  BACKGROUND English Spanish Verb Noun or Adjective Verb Noun or Adjective applaud applause aplaudir aplauso — plausible — plausible ascend ascension ascender ascensión collide collision — colisión collude collusion coludir colusión comprehend comprehension comprender comprensión — incomprehension — incomprensión concede concession conceder concesión conclude conclusion concluir conclusión confound confusion confundir confusión consent consensus consentir consenso convert conversion convertir conversión decide decision decidir decisión dissent dissension disentir disensión divide division dividir división evade evasion evadir evasión exclude exclusion, exclusive excluir exclusión, exclusivo expand expansion expandir expansión explode explosion explotar explosión extend extension, extensive extender extensión, extensivo intercede intercession interceder intercesión invade invasion invadir invasión invader — — invasor offend offense ofender ofensa persuade persuasion persuadir persuasión pretend pretension pretender pretensión respond responsible responder responsable ridiculous risible, derisory ridículo risible, irrisorio submit submission someter sumisión suspend suspension suspender suspensión utilize use utilizar usar (vb.), uso (n.)  Apart from being “plausible” (i.e., “appearing worthy of belief”), Spanish plausible can mean “praiseworthy”, “laudable”.  Explotar (“to explode”) was a “back formation” from the noun explosión, with a -t rather than a -d due to its confusion with the unrelated verb explotar (“to exploit”).  Although English pretend and Spanish pretender share essentially common meanings, pretend has come to specialize almost entirely in the sense of “to feign”, “to claim or allege insincerely or falsely”, while pretender generally means “to try to”, “to aspire to”. Accordingly, the two words figure on many lists of falsos amigos. T4311.indb 26 T4311.indb 26 8/31/07 6:42:43 AM 8/31/07 6:42:43 AM () S S R between Vowels This change is known as rhotacism (after the Greek letter for r). Evidence of Latin rhotacism is visible in cases where a word with intervocalic s had a related form with either s  consonant or word-final s, which was therefore not subject to this change. English Spanish adhesive adhere adhesivo adherir August augury agosto augurio, agüero cohesion coherent cohesión coherente genus general [género] general honest honor honesto honor ingestion [ingest] ingestión ingerir inquest inquire encuesta inquirir just jury justo jurado modest moderate modesto moderado, moderar (vb.) onus onerous — oneroso opus opera opus ópera plus plural plus plural pus purulent pus purulento rustic rural rústico rural Venus venereal Venus venéreo () Weakening of (Short) Vowels in Interior Syllables At some stage in its early history, Latin passed through a period with a strong stress accent on the initial syllable (similar to that of the Germanic languages,  It also has a partial parallel in the Germanic languages, the difference being that in Germanic , the change of s to r was dependent on its location relative to that of the stressed syllable, whereas in Latin it was essentially universal. The relatively few traces of Germanic rhotacism remaining in Modern English include the couplets: was—were, lost—forlorn, raise...