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).