Comments on: Spanish historical phonology/phonetics

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:09:32 +0000

“Pantalones tejanos” are blue jeans.

By: IsabelG

IsabelG — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:57:57 +0000

Queen Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) wrote her name with an initial Y. As a modern Spanish Isabel, it took me a while to understand what the initials F Y meant in monuments build by the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella.

And why does the most Spanish queen of all have an Italian name in English?

By: Graham

Graham — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:46:33 +0000

¡Gracias, Jesús!
Jesús’ comment translated:
You could say that “México” refers to the city, while “Méjico” designates the whole country, although since the end of the 19th century, officially the country has been called “México”. But it is always pronounced with [x], never [ks].
We could also bring in the place name “Texas” (to be read “Tejas”) and “Texan trousers” [these are unknown to me - perhaps someone can elaborate?], both pronounced with jota. And the people’s names Xavier or Ximénez, which changed their spellings to Javier and Jiménez.
The same happens with Oaxaca, Mexico, or the Sierra de la Axarquía in Málaga, Spain, archaisms that are accepted by the Real Academia as alternative forms to the modern spellings; en any case, the in these words must be pronounced as a jota ([x]).

By: Jesús Bermejo

Jesús Bermejo — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:01:16 +0000

Hola, Graham:

Como bien sabes, mi inglés es muy pobre, pero creo haber entendido un poco lo que explicas.

Del topónimo México se podría decir que se refiere a la ciudad, y Méjico denominaría a toda la nación, si bien desde fines del XIX oficialmente se escribe México. Pero siempre se pronuncia la velar j [x], nunca [ks] .

Se podrían traer aquí también el tópónimo Texas, léase ‘Tejas’, y los pantalones tejanos, con j. Y los antropónimos Xavier o Ximénez, que pasaron a grafiarse Javier y Jiménez.

Igual sucede con Oaxaca, México, o la Sierra de la Axarquía en Málaga, España, arcaísmos que son aceptados por la Real Academia como formas alternativas a las grafías modernas; en cualquier caso, la x en estas palabras debe de ser pronunciada como una j.

Abrazos.

Jesús Bermejo

By: Graham

Graham — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:44:15 +0000

Athel – you’re right. Perhaps I didn’t make it clear that the spelling of Cervantes’ time would have been “Quixote”.

By: Athel Cornish-Bowden

Athel Cornish-Bowden — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:32:24 +0000

Thanks for this detailed explanation, which confirms what I thought, but didn’t want to argue with my host about. One thing surprised me in particular, which was that the book I was looking at used the modern spelling Quijote whereas I had been under the impression that our English spelling derived from the original as written by Cervantes.

By: Nigel Greenwood

Nigel Greenwood — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:56:13 +0000

This is slightly OT (again), but Graham’s discussion shows why modern Spanish uses spellings such as yihad (English “jihad”) & Jomeini (”Khomeini”).

By: Abdul

Abdul — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:59:57 +0000

Just to add another example of ‘x’ and ‘j’ alternation, consider the name Javier and Xafier which is derived from the Arabic Ja’far.