Trust and suspicion

Trust in Spanish is not one word but a scale. Fiarse de alguien is to rely on a person; dar crédito a algo is to believe a statement; la fe ciega is what the rest of the list warns against. On the other side the grid is just as fine: la reserva inicial is not suspicion yet, only holding back, while el hábito de sospechar describes somebody who suspects everywhere. Fifth on the list stands a word English has to break up. El aval is what one party puts behind another: a bank's guarantee on a loan, a name on a tenancy, a senior colleague saying openly that this candidate is sound. English keeps a different word for each — « guarantee », « surety », « endorsement », « backing » — and the verb is worse, because avalar becomes « to guarantee », « to stand surety for », « to vouch for » or « to endorse » depending on who is putting what behind whom. Spanish asks one question only: whose name is behind it.