Spanish Words of Germanic Origin

Abstract

Although words of derivation are neither as numerous nor as important in Spanish as words of Latin origin, they certainly merit the consideration of teachers of Spanish. By Germanic words we mean words that entered Spanish from the Gothic, German, Scandinavian, Flemish, Dutch, AngloSaxon, Old High German, and Middle High German. It is the purpose of this paper to consider only those modern Spanish words which can be found in respected dictionaries of Spanish and which are of origin. Excluded are the very recent acquisitions, largely from the English, such as club, futbol, or beisbol and mechanical terms which have, for the most part, been imposed on all modern languages by the industrial domination of the English-speaking peoples. We are concerned, by and large, with those words of origin which entered Spanish through normal channels, i.e. by constant oral-aural repetition. Very few Spanish words of origin are the result of a deliberate creative effort on the part of a linguistic scholar. Consequently we have few doublets. When they do occur, both words forming the doublet seem almost equally rare, e.g. guarir and guarecer. Many personal names, such as Ramiro, Elvira, Alberto, Alfredo, and Gonzalo are of origin. It is not our intention to study them, nor the many proper nouns, designating place names, still found in Spain and Portugal. Good work has already been done on Iberian toponyms.1 The Gothic invaders were less cruel