#what's an iberian word and what's not..... but today i'm less sure

[lingocurio]

My alternate self has been in Lisbon for a week now, and my real self still knows nothing about Portugal. Sad.

Wikipedia is always a good place to start. I thought this section about how Portugal got its name was pretty interesting.

The word Portugal derives from the combined Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale;[24][25] a settlement where present-day’s conurbation of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia (or simply, Gaia) stand, along the banks of River Douro in the north of what is now Portugal. The name of Porto stems from the Latin word for port or harbour, portus, with the second element Cale’s meaning and precise origin being less clear. The mainstream explanation points to an ethnonym derived from the Callaeci also known as Gallaeci peoples, who occupied the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula.[26] The names Cale and Callaici are the origin of today's Gaia and Galicia.[27][28]

There are some Hungarian folk songs that refer to "Galicia" and I'm not sure why. I just remember wondering where the heck Galicia is. It's in present-day Portugal? Why would Hungarians be singing about that? Maybe there's more than one Galicia.

Another theory proposes that Cale or Calle is a derivation of the Celtic word for 'port', like the Irish caladh or Scottish Gaelic cala. These explanations, would require the pre-Roman language of the area to have been a branch of Q-Celtic, which is not generally accepted because the region's pre-Roman language was Gallaecian. However, scholars like Jean Markale and Tranoy propose that the Celtic branches all share the same origin, and placenames such as Cale, Gal, Gaia, Calais, Galatia, Galicia, Gaelic, Gael, Gaul (Latin: Gallia),[29] Wales, Cornwall, Wallonia and others all stem from one linguistic root.[27][30][31]

Whoa! That's cool! I love when you can see the connections between different languages and see the changes and divergence over time.

A further explanation proposes Gatelo as having been the origin of present-day Braga, Santiago de Compostela, and consequently the wider regions of Northern Portugal and Galicia.[32] A different theory has it that Cala was the name of a Celtic goddess (drawing a comparison with the Gaelic Cailleach, a supernatural hag). Further still, some French scholars believe the name may have come from Portus Gallus,[33] the port of the Gauls or Celts.

So basically, lots of great guesses.

Around 200 BC, the Romans took the Iberian Peninsula from the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War. In the process they conquered Cale, renaming it Portus Cale ('Port of Cale') and incorporating it in the province of Gaellicia with its capital in Bracara Augusta (modern day Braga, Portugal). During the Middle Ages, the region around Portus Cale became known by the Suebi and Visigoths as Portucale. The name Portucale evolved into Portugale during the 7th and 8th centuries, and by the 9th century, that term was used extensively to refer to the region between the rivers Douro and Minho. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugale, Portugallia, Portvgallo or Portvgalliae was already referred to as Portugal.

The Carthaginians. I remember learning about the Carthaginians during my university studies an eon ago. I don't remember who they were or what happened to them. Time to delve into some ancient history, perhaps?

The 14th-century Middle French name for the country, Portingal, which added an intrusive /n/ sound through the process of excrescence, spread to Middle English.[34] Middle English variant spellings included Portingall, Portingale,[note 5] Portyngale and Portingaill.[34][36] The spelling Portyngale is found in Chaucer's Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale. These variants survive in the Torrent of Portyngale, a Middle English romance composed around 1400, and "Old Robin of Portingale", an English Child ballad. Portingal and variants were also used in Scots[34] and survive in the Cornish name for the country, Portyngal.

Excrescence! Gesundheit. Thank you.

Well that was an interesting little linguistic side trip. I'm always curious about how countries got their names.

#portugal #etymology #linguistics #historical linguistics #europe #roman #celtic

[exemplarybehaviour]

@pretty-rage-machine commmented:

never spent time in spain - is mandar "send" there also?

sorry-- i tried to reply via comment but tumblr killed this effort. :/

i’m.... hesitant to tell you anything without a disclaimer because I’m a non-native speaker who technically learned latin american spanish in school and then only got good at in spain........... so in the US usually people are like “wow, is one of your parents spanish?” and in spain they’re usually like, “oh, that word you keep saying.......... did you learn it in Mexico?!”

but! in spain i mostly heard mandar being used as “to command/to control.” (as in: a remote control for a TV is un mando.) for “to send” i’d probably say “enviar” (ex- le envié un postal a mi tía). i low key forget mandar could also be like “te mandaré un cartel.” so..... i assume that iberian spanish uses mandar/enviar like i’ve described but AGAIN! not a native speaker. 

#i do welcome native speakers to weigh in #sometimes i have been taight either via a teacher or a friend calling me out #what's an iberian word and what's not..... but today i'm less sure #like one time an american friend in mallorca kept saying 'manejar' for 'to drive' and i had to be like #i'm so sorry...... this is why everyone clocks you as a foreigner...... it's 'conducir' #it'd also unclear to me how well spanish ppl understand latin americans #(like-- enviar vs mandar or manejar vs conducir #) #because they'll put subtitles on LA spanish speaker EVEN WHENN i-- a foreigner-- is like 'okay but they speak clearer than #someone with a strong andalucia accent' #anyway today grammar awful because #1) celebratory wine and then 2) tumblr/my keyboard being EXTRA WEIRD?! #the rain in spain