(Above: Lâhome dels nassos, a Catalan New Years Tradition, in the city of Tarragona, where he is represented with a tradition capgros costume; from Raquel Fabregat Moliner on Flickr.)
Kaixo @givemethelanguages, Iâm your @langblrsecretsanta for this year! I saw that youâre a linguistics major and study Basque and Catalan (all of which are things I am too), so I kind of went off for your present, I hope you donât mind. I thought it might be interesting to combine some seasonal vocabulary in Catalan and Basque with historical linguistics, so hereâs some fun etymological tidbits for you! Also we should definitely talk in Basque and Catalan I need more friends who study them
revetlla
the night before a festival, like English Eve or Spanish verbena
Etymology: from vetllar âto hold vigil, watch overâ (cognate with English vigil), which comes from Latin vÄŤgÄŤlare âto stay awake, hold vigilâ; there is also a vigilar in Catalan, which comes from the same root but is a much later loan, the first being from the 13th century and the second from the 18th century.
Home dels nassos
the âMan of the Nosesâ, a Catalan tradition in which there is said to be a man with as many noses as days of the year, but who only becomes visible on December 31 (when he has one nose like everyone else)
Etymology:Â nas ânoseâ from Latin nÄsus ânoseâ (cf. French nez and Italian naso); the Spanish and Portuguese nariz ânoseâ comes from Latin nÄris ânostrilâ, which also gives Catalan nariu ânostrilâ. All of these, in addition to the English nose, come from Proto-Indo-European nĂŠhâs ânoseâ.
raĂŻm
grapes (or a bunch), which are eaten with each bell toll at midnight on New Years (same as in most of Spain)
Etymology:Â either from Old Occitan razim âgrapeâ or Vulgar Latin racÄŤmus, ultimately coming from Latin racÄmus âbunch of grapesâ; compare French raisin âgrapeâ and Spanish racimo âbunch (of fruit)â, which come from the same root. A single grape can also be gotim, which is a Catalan innovation possibly deriving from gota âdropâ. Another interesting grape-related word is bagot âunripe grape left on the vineâ, which may come from Proto-Celtic *bekos âbeeâ.
campanada
a bell toll, most prominently the bell tolls at midnight on New Years (although it can refer to any bell tolling as well)
Etymology:Â from campana âbellâ, from Latin campÄna, the demonym for the Campania region of Italy where the best bronze to make bells came from; this in turn comes from Latin campus âopen or flat space, plainâ, meaning that Catalan camp âfieldâ and campanada are cognate (and are cognate with English camp as well).
Olentzero
the Basque Santa Claus, who comes on December 31 in the town of Ermua (although on December 24 in most places)
Etymology:Â of unclear origins, attested forms include Onenzaro, Onentzaro, Olentzaro, Ononzaro, and Orentzago; the most sound theory posits that it was originally Onentzaro and is derived from on âgoodâ and -zaro âperiod of time, seasonâ, referring to the winter solstice holiday (and possibly relating to the Spanish nochebuena). The holiday is called xubilaro or subilaro in some parts of Navarre, from subil âYule logâ and -zaro; in other parts it is known as sekularo, which is likely to come from Latin saeculÄris âworldly, temporal, profaneâ.
Urte berri on! / Bon any nou! / Feliz aĂąo nuevo! / Happy New Year!
Quina meravella!!! Mâencisa! Bon any nou! <3 Eta bai, nahi duzunean, hitz egin beharko genuke <3 Urte berri on!
