Spanish Word of the Day

Fecha: 15-11-13
Palabra: Cubil

Today's SWD means den/lair. In the context I saw the word, it applied to a rat's nest. I wonder if it can also be applied to a hidden place a person might live.


Image source: upload.wikimedia.org

The assignment for the advanced readers is to confirm or deny a common etymology with the word Cuba.

Ejemplo time.

Mary Ann encontró un cubil de puerco espín en el otro lado de la isla. = Mary Ann found a porcupine lair on the other side of the island.

Cuba's name is thought to be a variant of a native name, but it's etymology is disputed. Cubil is from a Latin word and has an English cognate which is also a type of creature pictured below. Can you guess the cognate?


Another cognate is "cubicle" which is a kind of den for office workers.

Quote: Pacomartin

Can you guess the cognate?

No clue.

Quote:

Another cognate is "cubicle" which is a kind of den for office workers.

Everyone knows what a cubicle is. I worked in one for ten years for Social Security. Happy to say the Venetian gave me an office. I think the youngsters in my department had door envy.

Question -- is cubil a cognate to cubby hole?

cub is a "stall, pen, cattle shed, coop, hutch" (1540s), but even though it sounds like it's related to cubicle and cubil, it has a completely different etymology.

The monster is called an incubus and it comes to your den while you sleep. So it's name comes from the same Latin word as does "cubil".

Needless to say a lot of sex over the centuries has been blamed on succubus or incubus.

Quote: Pacomartin

Needless to say a lot of sex over the centuries has been blamed on succubus or incubus.

It's always nice to have somebody else to blame for things that are your own fault.

Fecha: 18-11-13
Palabra: Condado

Today's SWD means county.

The question for the advanced readers is whether they have counties in any Spanish speaking countries. In my many trips to Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, and Uruguay I've never been aware of such a thing.

Ejemplo time.

Apuesto que ella nunca cruzada la linea de condado. = I bet she's never cross the county line.

Bonus points if you can name the reference in the ejemplo. ¡No buscando!

Quote: Wizard

The question for the advanced readers is whether they have counties in any Spanish speaking countries.

No. But maybe.

In Mexico states are divided into "municipios," usually with a city being a "municipio" of its own, though that doesn't apply to Mexico City, which is subdived in 16 "delegaciones."

Quote:

Apuesto que ella nunca cruzada la linea de condado. = I bet she's never cross the county line.

Nunca HA cruzadO. And it's "deL condado."

Quote:

¡No buscando!

Now this is literally impossible to translate in a literal fashion. I'd go with "¡no se vale buscar!" as a reasonable equivalent.

Quote: Nareed

Quote:

¡No buscando!

Now this is literally impossible to translate in a literal fashion.

In English if you say "I am looking" or "I was looking" you are using progressive forms of the verb in present and past. If you are say "No looking!" then the word "looking" is acting as a noun, or what is called a gerund.

The natural tendency is to use the form of Spanish verb that we translate as the -ing form in English. While that is correct for progressive forms of the verbs, it makes no sense for gerunds. You must use the infinitive form. As Nareed pointed out, the -ing form has no meaning whatsoever in Spanish when you try to use it as a noun.

We do sometimes use the infinitive form when we want the verb to stand in as a noun. In most cases it is in classical phrases like "To err is human, to forgive divine". In more modern speech you could say "Erring is human, and forgiving is divine" and it would still be comprehensible. But in more casual speech given a choice between saying "reading is good" or "to read is good" we tend to go with the former.

Many people in the USA feel that county|municipality is an unnecessary extra level of government that actually creates problems. On an individual basis the distinction has been eliminated. I think the first place to do that was merging the City and County of Philadelphia in 1855.

Simple Trivia question: What is the only city in the USA consisting of multiple counties?

Quote: Pacomartin

Simple Trivia question: What is the only city in the USA consisting of multiple counties?

This may not be the answer you have in mind, but I would say Baltimore. The city of Baltimore seceded from the County. So there is Baltimore City and Baltimore County, which are entirely separate regions. To put it another way, Baltimore City is not in a county, in kind of the same way Washington DC is not in a state.

Still, some people in Baltimore County still use "Baltimore" as their city for mailing purposes. This would have included me when I lived there. My old driver's license also said "Baltimore."

There are a number of so called "independent cities" that are not part of counties.

The City of Baltimore, Maryland, has been separate from Baltimore County since 1851.
The City of St. Louis, Missouri, was separated from St. Louis County in 1876.
Philadelphia City consolidated with Philadelphia County in 1855
Carson City, Nevada, consolidated with Ormsby County in 1969; however, Ormsby County was simultaneously dissolved.
Virginia has 38 independent cities.

New York City and New York County I think have been consolidated since independence. But presently NYC consists of 5 New York State Counties, which are the same as the 5 boroughs.

Quote: Pacomartin

New York City and New York County I think have been consolidated since independence. But presently NYC consists of 5 New York State Counties, which are the same as the 5 boroughs.

I was tempted to answer New York, but didn't because they call them boroughs instead of counties. However, I didn't know what county they were in.



So, this leads to my question of why they use the term borough anyway, when it seems they are divided along the same lines as the counties. Except, that Kings County looks to be what I would consider to be the borough of Queens.

Also, are all five borough technically part of NYC? I thought only Manhattan was, and the others were just riding its coattails. Like someone in Compton would probably just say they are from Los Angeles to anyone outside of the LA area. Even the Las Vegas Strip is not technically in the city of Las Vegas, but who has heard of "Paradise, Nevada"?