Spanish Vocabulary: Meaning, Origin, and Formation

Lexical and Grammatical Meaning in Spanish

Lexical Meaning

This refers to the core meaning of words found in the dictionary, primarily associated with:

  • Nouns
  • Verbs
  • Adverbs
  • Adjectives

Grammatical Meaning

This relates to grammatical functions and relationships, such as gender, number, and person. It includes words like:

  • Pronouns
  • Adjectives (in their grammatical function)
  • Determiners
  • Prepositions
  • Conjunctions

Word Meanings and Relationships

  • Polysemy: A single word having several related meanings.
  • Homonymy: Words that sound alike and may or may not be spelled the same but have different meanings. Includes:
    • Homophones: Words that sound alike but are spelled differently (e.g., hola / ola).
    • Homographs: Words spelled the same (and may sound the same) but have different meanings (e.g., vino – ‘wine’ / vino – ‘he/she came’).
  • Lexical Family (Familia Léxica): A set of words sharing the same root or lexeme (e.g., pan, panadero, panadería).
  • Lexeme: The basic meaning unit shared by a set of words belonging to the same grammatical category.
  • Semantic Field (Campo Semántico): A group of words sharing a basic meaning, regardless of their grammatical category (e.g., words related to ‘housing’: casa, apartamento, vivir, habitar, techo).
  • Denotation: The primary, literal, or dictionary meaning of a word.
  • Connotation: The secondary, implied, or associative meaning of a word.
  • Synonymy: Different words that have the same or very similar meanings (e.g., fatiga and cansancio – tiredness).
  • Antonymy: Words with opposite meanings (e.g., frío – cold / calor – heat).
  • Hypernymy: A word with a general meaning that encompasses other more specific words (e.g., flor – flower).
  • Hyponymy: Words with specific meanings that fall under a general category or hypernym (e.g., rosa, clavel, margarita are hyponyms of flor).

Origins of Castilian Vocabulary: Latin Heritage

Castilian (Spanish) is a language derived primarily from Latin. Most of our vocabulary originates from Latin, although there are also inherited words from other sources.

Words derived from Latin evolved in several ways:

  • Cultismo (Learned Word): A word borrowed directly from Latin with minimal phonetic evolution. Example: clavis > clave (key).
  • Semicultismo (Semi-Learned Word): A word from Latin that underwent partial evolution. Example: saeculum > siglo (century).
  • Doblete (Doublet): When a single Latin word results in both a cultismo and a patrimonial word through different evolutionary paths.
  • Voz Patrimonial (Inherited Word): A Latin word that has undergone complete phonetic evolution according to historical sound changes. Example: filium > hijo (son).

Lexical Creation Procedures

Languages adapt to changing circumstances. This involves:

  • Arcaísmos (Archaisms): Words that have become obsolete or fallen out of common use. Example: aqueste (meaning este – this).
  • Neologismos (Neologisms): The creation or adoption of new words. Example: PYME (SME – Small and Medium-sized Enterprise).

Morphological Procedures

  • Composición (Composition): Joining two or more existing words to form a new one (e.g., sacacorchos – corkscrew).
  • Derivación (Derivation): Adding affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes) to a base word (lexeme). Examples: rehacer (prefix ‘re-‘ + base ‘hacer’), pequeñito (base ‘pequeño’ + suffix ‘-ito’), polvareda (base ‘polvo’ + infix ‘-ar-‘ + suffix ‘-eda’).
  • Parasíntesis (Parasynthesis): Simultaneously adding a prefix and a suffix to a base word, where neither the prefixed word nor the suffixed word exists independently (e.g., aterrizar: a- + terr- + -izar).

Loanwords (Préstamos)

Definition: Words adopted from another language and incorporated into the Spanish vocabulary.

Examples by origin:

  • Arabismos (Arabic): e.g., alcalde, almohada
  • Galicismos (French): e.g., jamón, chófer
  • Italianismos (Italian): e.g., trío, boceto
  • Anglicismos (English): e.g., turista, cheque, fútbol
  • Lusismos (Portuguese): e.g., mejillones, bandeja
  • Indigenismos (Indigenous American languages): e.g., cacao, tomate, patata
  • Galleguismos (Galician): e.g., chubasco, morriña
  • Catalanismos (Catalan): e.g., paella, butifarra
  • Vasquismos (Basque): e.g., izquierda, boina

Most loanwords adapt to Spanish pronunciation and spelling.

  • Extranjerismo (Foreignism): A loanword that retains its original pronunciation and spelling without full adaptation into Spanish (e.g., software, ballet).
  • Latinismo (Latinism): Words incorporated from Latin into Spanish (often in scholarly or formal contexts) maintaining their original form (e.g., currículum vitae, ad hoc).

Other Word Formation Processes

  • Abreviatura (Abbreviation): Representing a word in writing using only one or a few of its letters (e.g., Sr. for señor, pág. for página).
  • Sigla (Initialism/Acronym): A word formed from the initial letters of other words in a phrase, usually pronounced letter by letter (e.g., ONU – Organización de las Naciones Unidas).
  • Acrónimo (Acronym): An initialism that is pronounced as a new word (e.g., RENFE – Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles, láser). Some acronyms become common words.
  • Acortamiento (Shortening/Clipping): Reducing the number of letters in a word.
    • Apócope (Apocope): Omitting the final letters (e.g., foto from fotografía, bici from bicicleta).
    • Aféresis (Apheresis): Omitting the initial letters (less common, e.g., bus from autobús).

Semantic Change

Definition: Changes in the meaning of words over time.

Causes of Semantic Change

  • Linguistic Causes: Based on the internal features of words and how they combine with others. Example: The adjective cortado (‘cut’) becomes the noun un cortado (‘a coffee with a dash of milk’).
  • Extralinguistic Causes: Driven by social, cultural, historical, and psychological factors, notably time and technological advancements. Example: The words ventana (‘window’) and ratón (‘mouse’) acquired new meanings related to computing.

Processes of Semantic Change

  • Tabú (Taboo): A word or expression avoided by speakers because it carries negative connotations or is considered inappropriate, offensive, or distasteful.
  • Eufemismo (Euphemism): A more acceptable or indirect word or phrase used to replace a taboo term, avoiding negative connotations (e.g., ‘pasar a mejor vida’ – ‘pass on to a better life’ instead of ‘morir’ – ‘to die’).
  • Metáfora (Metaphor): Replacing a word with another based on a perceived resemblance or similarity (e.g., ‘las perlas de tu boca’ – ‘the pearls of your mouth’ for teeth).
  • Metonimia (Metonymy): Replacing a word with another based on a relationship of contiguity, proximity, cause-effect, part-whole, etc. (e.g., ‘beber un rioja’ – ‘drink a Rioja’ meaning wine from the Rioja region; ‘leer a Cervantes’ – ‘read Cervantes’ meaning Cervantes’ works).