Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: Wizard

The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast amonestar y advertir.

Spanish "advertir" comes from Latin "advertere" which means to "turn toward" modified to mean to "call attention to", which is the ancestor of English advertise.

Spanish "amonestar" is from Latin "admonere" "bring to mind, remind, suggest;" also "warn, advise, urge," which is the ancestor of English admonish.

Closely related is "avisar" and "aviso".

Quote: Wizard

Today's SWD means to warn. A related word is amonestación, which means a warning.

Not exactly. At least not in current usage. In fact, I don't think it's used anymore outside of sucker. Some kind of rule infraction elicits the referee to show the offender a card of some color (blue? yellow? purple? I forget), called "amonestación." I've no idea why or what gets accomplished by it. The other card means ejection from the match, much to the relief of the so-called player involved, I'm sure.

I can't tell you how it's used in a regular context, because I've never heard or seen it used that way. I'd recommend filing it away.

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The assignment for the advanced readers is to compare and contrast amonestar y advertir.

Advertir is a word in use and it means to warn. When you see a warning sign, it will be labelled "ADEVRTENCIA"

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Ejemplo time.

Le amonesté al Capitan que vendría una tormenta. = I warned the Skipper a storm was coming.

"Le ADVERTÍ al Capitán...."

Quote: Nareed

Some kind of rule infraction elicits the referee to show the offender a card of some color (blue? yellow? purple? I forget), called "amonestación." I've no idea why or what gets accomplished by it. The other card means ejection from the match, much to the relief of the so-called player involved, I'm sure.

A yellow card is a warning and a red card is immediate ejection. If you break two rules that are yellow card worthy you also get ejected. Once, when playing golf in Quebec, I put my bag of clubs on the green and got a yellow card warning in French for it.

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Advertir is a word in use and it means to warn.

The Harry Potter translations use amonestar.

Quote: Wizard

The Harry Potter translations use amonestar.

If I said I congratulated someone on their birthday, that would be a perfectly adequate literal translation from Spanish. It would also be 100% wrong.

Quote: Nareed

If I said I congratulated someone on their birthday, that would be a perfectly adequate literal translation from Spanish. It would also be 100% wrong.

It would also be incorrect English. "Someone" is singular and "their" is plural. It should be his birthday, or his/her if you want to be more politically correct.

Quote: Wizard

It would also be incorrect English. "Someone" is singular and "their" is plural. It should be his birthday, or his/her if you want to be more politically correct.

This person begs to differ:

"There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend" — Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3

To be sure, the Bard of Avon is tackling an indeterminate number, not unspecified gender. But the principle is the same. The singular "they/them" it's just too convenient.

Quote: Wizard

The Harry Potter translations use amonestar.

The word in English was certainly used more in Early modern English with at least three uses in King James Version of Bible


And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. -Romans 15:14

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; - 1 Thessalonians 5:12

Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. - 2 Thessalonians 3:15

But in English the word is a little fusty. It may be more common in European Spanish.

Quote: Pacomartin

The word in English was certainly used more in Early modern English with at least three uses in King James Version of Bible

And if Engish was good enough for the Biblical writers.... ;)

Still, that's an apt comparison. it's not really used any more. And if it were, you would not admonish someone that a strom is coming. The reason I did not even try to find out a definition of "amonestar" is there is no use for the word in common parlance any longer. Even if it were still somewhat current in Spain or some odd corner of South America, "advertir" works just as well.

Quote: Nareed

And if Engish was good enough for the Biblical writers.... ;)

A look at the words in the King James Bible tells you how much English has changed.

For instance get is now the fifth most popular verb in English language. Yet the verb is fairly rare in the bible, and the meaning is often very different For instance look at Genesis:

1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country,
2. Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city.
3. Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah;
4. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.
5. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
6. Dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.
7. And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence;
8. And as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.
9. And go, get you unto the land of Canaan;

So out of only 9 uses in Genesis, only 2 times does it mean to acquire something. The other 7 times it means "to go somewhere" under orders. Also it is used primarily as "get you" or "get thee". The more modern use of "get me" is only once.

So even a simple three letter word has basically changed it's ordinary usage.

More obvious are the conjugations that are no longer used (ART, HATH , SAITH ,SHALT ,THEE ,THOU ).

Don Quixote was written about the same time as the King James Bible. How different does the Spanish sound from modern Spanish?

Quote: Nareed

"There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend" — Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3

Now we know why it was titled a Comedy of Errors.

Seriously, since he is obviously referring to all men he meets, "their" is acceptable. I would have still said "he" to match with "a man," but that is just me. There is a reason I have to pay proofreaders.