Nepali Wanderer

Last time, I shared my story of finally learning Spanish. My fascination with common English-Spanish words, owing to their strong Latin roots, led me to re-read “Word Power Made Easy.” Exploring their etymology has completely changed the way I see many words.

Starting Simple: Con and Com

Let’s start with something simple. In Spanish, “con” (or “com”) means together. So, whenever you see English words with “con,” think of togetherness:

• Conjunction: Joining together.
• Confluence: Flowing together.
• Consummate: Bringing together to completion.

Delving Deeper: Etymology in Action

Let’s delve deeper with the word company. As mentioned above, com means together. But what about “pan”? In Spanish, “pan” means bread. So, originally, the word company meant people who eat together (like companion). What about the word compare? “Par” means equality, so anytime you see “par,” think of something that breeds equality. That way, comparisons should ideally be made between equals (unlike today where we end up comparing ourselves with every Tom, Dick and Harry). The same root “par” also leads to words like pair and peer.

Interestingly, the same ‘n-m’ reversal (like con, com) can be seen in my own language, Nepali (which is heavily influenced by Sanskrit). A great example is “Sansar” (meaning the world) and “Samsara” (the eternal cycle of life and death). While they are used differently now, it’s not difficult to see that they originated from the same root. If you want to delve deeper, it’s a good thought experiment to analyse how this one diversification in particular has deep philosophical implications in our lifestyle. But that’s for another time; let’s get back to our Spanish-English connection.

Knowing and Writing: Scion, Scribe

To know (anything) is our fundamental nature. The word scion means to know. So, wherever you see scion in both languages, think of knowing:

• Conscious / Consciente
• Science / Ciencia
• Omniscient / Omnisciente

Then there is scribe, which means to write (like “escribir” in Spanish). Words like describe, script, and manuscript all have that root. As for manuscript, “mano” means hand in Spanish. Notice the same mano in manufacture, which means something made by hand.

Good and Bad: Bon and Mal

Let’s talk about good and bad things. Good comes from bon (bueno in Spanish), so anywhere you see “bon,” it’s something good:

• Bonafide
• Beneficial

Whereas bad comes from malus (malo in Spanish). So, anything that starts with “mal” indicates something bad:

• Malfunction
• Malnutrition
• Malpractice

Peace and Return: Paz and Volver

The word peace comes from paz, and so does Pacific (named by “Magellan the almost first globetrotter” for its peacefulness). Words like pacify, placate, and complacent have the same peaceful root. (Complacent thus means with peace, which has completely changed my outlook toward this word!)

The word volver means to come back in Spanish (there’s a cool movie called Volver with Penelope Cruz, watch it!). Many English words with “volver” have something to do with coming back:

• Revolve
• Involve (i means inside, like in internal)
• Evolve (e means outside, like in emerge or external)
• Revolver

The word credo means to believe, so you get the picture about credit, credulous, and credible now. (Interestingly, “ous” means full and “ible” means able.)

Pain and Flesh: Dolor and Carne

Now for the GRE word that sparked my interest in this dissection. Dolor, the Spanish word for pain, relates to English words like:

• Dolorous
• Doleful
• Condole
• Condolence

So, anything with “dole” relates to pain. Then there’s carne, which means flesh. Think of:

• Carnal
• Carnage
• Reincarnation

And of course, carnivorous. “Carne” means flesh, and “voro” (as in devour) means to eat. (Voracious makes sense now.)

Time and Life: Chrono and Vivo

Before we run out of time, let’s talk about time too. Time, meaning chrono, leads to words like:

• Chronic
• Synchronous
• Anachronism

And lastly, the most important word of our lives: life itself. Vivo means to live, like vivir in Spanish. So, words like:

• Vital
• Vitamin
• Revitalize
• Vivid
• Vivacious

All have that “vivo” connection. (And how vivacious is Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”?)

Expanding Spanish Vocabulary: A Simple Trick

If you want to add more Spanish words via English, here’s a simple trick: Words like organization, nation, and association become organización, nación, and asociación. Words ending in “-ity” like university become universidad, ability becomes habilidad, and opportunity becomes oportunidad. Even simpler, words like amable, capable, and favorable remain the same. (Now you know at least 100 Spanish words!)

The Bigger Picture: Language and Society

Apart from these examples, the comparison of languages has been pivotal for other reasons. The idea of the Proto-Indo-European theory (that European and Indian languages today had a common origin) came after British scholar William Jones found similarities between Sanskrit and English. I once read a book by Max Müller (a German scholar) that discussed how the origin of common history can be deduced through the common origin of words. He mentioned words like Agni from Sanskrit (meaning fire) which appear in other languages in different forms (like ignite in English). Similarly, important words like mother and father have similar forms (madre, padre, matar, pitar) in many of the world’s languages.

Understanding the origin of words also reveals societal structures and hidden biases and injustices. I remember reading about the word fraternity (from brother) and understanding why some women object to its universal use. Or finding some common usage Nepali words that have deep caste-based discrimination, which sadly we are carrying forward in ignorance. 

Words: More Than Communication

Lastly, words are far more important than mere communication. They are our medium of thought. (Try thinking without using words!) Thus, just as we think using words, it’s fun to think about words.