All Questions
Tagged with spanish historical-linguistics
10 questions
3
votes
1
answer
335
views
Does -z / -ces in Spanish plurals reflect sound change in the past?
Spanish nouns ending with -z become -ces in plural forms. (e.g. lapiz-lapices, vez-veces, etc.) While -zes and -ces sound same in Modern Spanish, they represented different sounds between 15-16th ...
- 415
4
votes
1
answer
92
views
Do constructs like "going to do" and "ir a hacer" share a common origin?
I'm curious about the linguistic background between these phrases because they don't make sense word-for-word in either language, but they work almost identically. Wikipedia says that a similar form ...
- 141
7
votes
2
answers
602
views
Apparent exceptions to the sound law f -> h in old Spanish
At some point during the evolution of Spanish, several initial [f] became silent (this is represented with an h in modern Spanish). This explains words such as hacer, harina, herir and many more. ...
- 713
0
votes
1
answer
282
views
Is it accurate to say that the Spanish language has no connection whatsoever with the Greek language?
Is it accurate to say that the Spanish language has no connection whatsoever with the Greek language? If not, and if possible, about how much can we safely say there is?
- 119
4
votes
2
answers
945
views
How does Metathesis work?
How does it happen? What motivated latin "parabola" to change into Spanish "palabra" and why does english "ask" is often changed to "aks"?
- 1,456
2
votes
1
answer
338
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Do all colonized countries use formal second pronouns person in daily life?
In Spanish vosotros/tu is used in an informal conversation and usted(es) in an formal one.
Whereas in the majority of the countries in Latin America, usted(es) is used constantly.
The same goes with ...
- 131
1
vote
1
answer
470
views
Alemaña/Almanya/ألمانيا etymology
Turkish, Arabic, Spanish for "Germany" are obviously cognate. But not with "Germany" or Deutschland.
At least two of them must be borrowed. Which, and what is the (commonly assumed) source?
- 203
7
votes
1
answer
686
views
Why the grammatical difference between "eu gosto" in Portuguese and "me gusta" in Spanish. What's the historical evolution of this expression?
Apparently, "eu" is the subject in "eu gosto (de isso)" while "me" is the object in "me gusta (algo)". Why such a difference between two languages? What's the historical evolution of this expression?
- 613
7
votes
4
answers
4k
views
How did 'cocodrilo' originate from 'crocodile'?
The English word crocodile seems to originate from the Latin crocodīlus and Ancient Greek κροκόδιλος. Indeed it has ended up very similar in several modern languages: German (Krokodile), Russian (...
21
votes
4
answers
5k
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Where did Spanish get its /x/? Arabic influence?
Most Romance languages don't have /x/ (like the j in hijo), nor did Latin. Where did Spanish /x/ come from? Internal development, Arabic influence, or something else? Since Moroccan Arabic also has /x/...
- 8,014