C2 · 50 words
History of the Spanish language
From spoken Latin to the present norm — sound change, layers of vocabulary, and the road to being written down.
La glosa antigua is the note a monk wrote in the margin, and « gloss » is a word English has twice over, from two languages that never met. The one that matches la glosa came through Latin from Greek and means a word explained: a glossary is a book of them, and « to gloss over » is to explain something away rather than explain it. The other came from the north and means shine — lip gloss, gloss paint, a glossy magazine — and has nothing whatever to do with language. Spanish keeps them apart without trying: la glosa is the note and el brillo is the shine.
The words
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Phrase (43)
la historia de la lenguathe history of a language, which explains what looks arbitrary todayPhraseC2
La historia de la lengua explica lo que hoy parece arbitrario.The history of the language explains what looks arbitrary today.
el latín vulgarthe spoken Latin that the Romance languages actually come fromPhraseC2
El latín vulgar es el que se hablaba, no el que se escribía.Vulgar Latin is the Latin that was spoken, not the one that was written.
el sustrato prerromanothe older layer left under Latin by the peoples Rome found herePhraseC2
El sustrato prerromano dejó pocos pero tenaces restos.The pre-Roman substrate left few traces but stubborn ones.
el superestrato germánicothe layer laid over Latin by the peoples who arrived after RomePhraseC2
El superestrato germánico aportó sobre todo nombres propios.The Germanic superstrate contributed mostly proper names.
la voz patrimonialthe inherited word, worn down by every sound change on the wayPhraseC2
La voz patrimonial pasó por todos los cambios fonéticos.An inherited word went through every sound change.
la voz culta tomada del latínthe word fetched straight from Latin later, and hardly worn at allPhraseC2
La voz culta tomada del latín entró tarde y apenas se transformó.A word fetched from Latin came in late and hardly changed.
el doblete etimológicothe pair in which the inherited and the fetched word survive side by sidePhraseC2
El doblete etimológico ofrece dos palabras del mismo origen.An etymological doublet offers two words of the same origin.
la evolución fonética regularthe sound change that applies everywhere it can, without exceptionPhraseC2
La evolución fonética regular no admite excepciones sin motivo.Regular sound change allows no exception without a reason.
la diptongación de la vocal brevethe breaking of a short vowel into twoPhraseC2
La diptongación de la vocal breve dio el ie y el ue.The breaking of the short vowel gave ie and ue.
la pérdida de la vocal átonathe dropping of a vowel that carried no stressPhraseC2
La pérdida de la vocal átona acortó muchas palabras.The loss of the unstressed vowel shortened many words.
la sonorización de la oclusiva intervocálicathe softening of a stop that stood between two vowelsPhraseC2
La sonorización de la oclusiva intervocálica convirtió la pe en be.Voicing of the stop between vowels turned p into b.
la aspiración de la efe inicialthe loss of the f at the start of a word, leaving a silent hPhraseC2
La aspiración de la efe inicial dejó una hache muda.The loss of the initial f left a silent h behind.
el reajuste de las sibilantesthe reshuffle of the hissing sounds that split north from southPhraseC2
El reajuste de las sibilantes separó el norte del sur.The reshuffle of the sibilants separated north from south.
la nivelación de un paradigmathe tidying of a paradigm, putting back what sound change brokePhraseC2
La nivelación de un paradigma regulariza lo que el sonido había roto.Levelling a paradigm regularises what sound had broken.
la etimología popularthe reading of an opaque word as though it were a transparent onePhraseC2
La etimología popular reinterpreta lo que no se entiende.Folk etymology reinterprets what is not understood.
la forma reconstruidathe form reconstructed rather than found, and offered as a hypothesisPhraseC2
La forma reconstruida no es una cita, es una hipótesis.A reconstructed form is not a citation, it is a hypothesis.
la primera documentaciónthe earliest place a word has been found written downPhraseC2
La primera documentación de la palabra es de un notario.The first record of the word is a notary's.
la glosa antiguathe note a reader left in the margin to explain a hard wordPhraseC2
La glosa antigua traducía al margen lo que el monje no entendía.The old gloss translated in the margin what the monk did not understand.
el romance primitivothe early vernacular, visible in charters before it is visible in versePhraseC2
El romance primitivo aparece antes en documentos que en literatura.The early vernacular turns up in charters before it turns up in literature.
el castellano medievalthe medieval Castilian that kept sounds now fallen togetherPhraseC2
El castellano medieval distinguía sonidos que hoy se confunden.Medieval Castilian told apart sounds that are now confused.
la escritura alfonsíthe spelling settled by the royal scriptorium of the thirteenth centuryPhraseC2
La escritura alfonsí fijó una ortografía de cancillería.The Alfonsine spelling fixed an orthography of the chancery.
la prosa de cancilleríathe prose of the chancery, copied as a model for centuriesPhraseC2
La prosa de cancillería sirvió de modelo durante siglos.Chancery prose served as a model for centuries.
el mester de clerecíathe learned verse that counted its syllables strictlyPhraseC2
El mester de clerecía contaba las sílabas con rigor.The learned verse tradition counted its syllables strictly.
el siglo de oro literariothe literary golden age, which fixed much of the educated languagePhraseC2
El siglo de oro literario fijó buena parte de la lengua culta.The literary golden age fixed a good part of the educated language.
la fijación ortográficathe settling of the spelling, which came with printing and the academyPhraseC2
La fijación ortográfica llegó con la imprenta y la academia.The settling of spelling came with printing and the academy.
la lengua de la administraciónthe language of administration, which froze forms that now sound stiffPhraseC2
La lengua de la administración fijó formas que hoy suenan rígidas.The language of administration fixed forms that now sound stiff.
el purismo lingüísticothe purism that always arrives after the word it objects toPhraseC2
El purismo lingüístico llega siempre tarde.Linguistic purism always arrives late.
la expansión atlántica del idiomathe crossing of the language to the AmericasPhraseC2
La expansión atlántica del idioma partió de un puerto concreto.The crossing of the language to the Atlantic set out from one particular port.
el andalucismo del español americanothe southern Spanish stamp on American SpanishPhraseC2
El andalucismo del español americano explica el seseo general.The southern stamp on American Spanish explains the general seseo.
el préstamo de las lenguas originariasthe word taken from the languages spoken in the Americas alreadyPhraseC2
El préstamo de las lenguas originarias nombra lo que Europa no conocía.Borrowing from the languages of the Americas names what Europe did not know.
el voseo históricothe old vos, which was the respectful form before it was the familiar onePhraseC2
El voseo histórico era la forma respetuosa antes de ser la familiar.The historical vos was the respectful form before it was the familiar one.
el arcaísmo conservadothe old form still alive out at the edgesPhraseC2
El arcaísmo conservado sobrevive en la periferia.A preserved archaism survives out at the edges.
el neologismo por derivaciónthe new word built from material the language already hadPhraseC2
El neologismo por derivación usa material que ya existía.A new word built by derivation uses material that already existed.
la productividad de un sufijothe productivity of a suffix, counted in the new words it makesPhraseC2
La productividad de un sufijo se mide en palabras nuevas.The productivity of a suffix is measured in new words.
el cambio semánticothe change in what a word means, which runs faster than sound changePhraseC2
El cambio semántico es más rápido que el fonético.Semantic change is faster than sound change.
la ampliación del significadothe widening of what a word means, from the particular to the generalPhraseC2
La ampliación del significado convierte lo concreto en general.Widening of meaning turns the particular into the general.
la restricción del significadothe narrowing of what a word means, shutting out what it once took inPhraseC2
La restricción del significado deja fuera lo que antes incluía.Narrowing of meaning shuts out what it used to include.
la degradación semánticathe souring of what a word means, from neutral to insultingPhraseC2
La degradación semántica vuelve peyorativo lo neutro.Semantic pejoration turns the neutral into the insulting.
la desaparición de un tiempo verbalthe dying out of a tense, which begins in speechPhraseC2
La desaparición de un tiempo verbal empieza en la lengua hablada.The disappearance of a tense begins in the spoken language.
la lingüística histórica comparadathe historical linguistics that works by comparing sister languagesPhraseC2
La lingüística histórica comparada trabaja con lenguas hermanas.Comparative historical linguistics works with sister languages.
la familia románicathe family of languages descended from that same spoken LatinPhraseC2
La familia románica desciende toda del mismo latín hablado.The Romance family all descends from the same spoken Latin.
el diccionario etimológicothe dictionary that gives a word its origin and its first recordPhraseC2
El diccionario etimológico cita el primer testimonio.The etymological dictionary cites the first attestation.
el corpus diacrónicothe corpus across time, which lets a construction be datedPhraseC2
El corpus diacrónico permite fechar una construcción.A diachronic corpus makes it possible to date a construction.
Noun (m) (3)
el arabismothe word taken from Arabic, usually with the article stuck onNoun (m)C2
El arabismo suele conservar el artículo pegado.A word from Arabic usually keeps the article stuck to it.
el semicultismothe word that started down the inherited road and stopped halfwayNoun (m)C2
El semicultismo se detuvo a mitad de camino.A half-learned word stopped halfway.
el étimothe form a word came from, marked with a star when unattestedNoun (m)C2
El étimo se reconstruye con un asterisco si no está documentado.The etymon is reconstructed with an asterisk when it is not attested.
Noun (f) (4)
la palatalizaciónthe pulling of a sound towards the hard palateNoun (f)C2
La palatalización creó sonidos que el latín no tenía.Palatalisation created sounds that Latin did not have.
la metátesisthe swapping of two sounds inside a wordNoun (f)C2
La metátesis intercambia dos sonidos de sitio.Metathesis swaps two sounds around.
la gramaticalizaciónthe turning of a full word into a piece of grammarNoun (f)C2
La gramaticalización convierte un verbo pleno en auxiliar.Grammaticalisation turns a full verb into an auxiliary.
la lexicalizaciónthe turning of a whole phrase into a single stored wordNoun (f)C2
La lexicalización congela una construcción entera.Lexicalisation freezes a whole construction.
This list belongs to Language and expression — 22 lists and 1102 words that can also be practised as a whole.
Practise this list
From these 50 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.