Cognate Cognizance Podcast

Did you know that the Statue of Liberty’s real name is “Liberty Enlightening the World?” Sometimes we call her “Lady Liberty,” too, and that’s my favorite nickname for her. She’s lovely, isn’t she, but what she represents is one of the loveliest things humans can experience, so on this special day when people all over the United States are celebrating their liberty, I thought it would be a good ti...

mariner — a sailor or a seafarer marinero — the masculine Spanish cognate of the same meaning marinera — the feminine Spanish cognate I love the sea, yet I live as far inland as one can get from a sea or an ocean here in the U.S.A. I’ve long said that I was born in the wrong locale and that I hope to retire near the sea someday. Time will tell, but if I could have chosen the place where I grew up,...

paterfamilias — the male head of a household is its original meaning; the father of a family paterfamilias — the Spanish cognate of the same meanings It varies only slightly in Italian to “paterfamilia.” The Latin word of “familia” originally referred to one’s household, which included people related to you by blood as well as people who served you, so that’s why the original meaning of this word...

infinitive — the basic form of the verb before it is changed for tense or subject (if you can put “to” in front of it, then it’s the infinitive form) infinitivo — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning In English class sometime in your past, you may have heard the grammar “rule” that tells you not to split an “infinitive,” yet you may never even have been taught what an “infinitive” is. Knowing w...

aviation — the act of flying by mechanical means in heavier-than-air crafts aviaciόn — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning These words come to us from the Latin word avis which means “bird.” In English, we use the first three letters to begin words that deal with flight. If you are an “aviator,” you pilot a plane, and thus you fly like a bird. The Spanish word for bird is “ave.” “Ave” can be h...

memory — a person or thing remembered (this is only one of the many definitions for “memory,” but it’s the one I want to use for today — Memorial Day) memoria — the Spanish (and Italian) cognate of the same meaning (and others) “Memory” and “memoria” come from the Latin word memoria , and you can see that it didn’t change its spelling in Spanish (or Italian). The Latin word was made from memor whi...

odious — hateful or deserving of hatred odioso — the Spanish and Italian masculine adjective cognates of the same meaning odiosa — the Spanish and Italian feminine adjective cognates of the same meaning Knowing the adjective “odious” in English makes learning a common Spanish infinitive so much easier. The Spanish verb for “to hate” is “odiar.” In Italian, the verb is “odiare.” The Spanish and Ita...

testament — a will or legal disposition of one’s personal property testamento — the Spanish cognate of the same definition In English, we more often use the word “will” instead of “testament,” but if you know “testament” as its synonym, then it’s easy to learn the Spanish word for “will” which is “testamento.” In English, the word “testament” has gained more of a religious association, but the wor...

arbiter — a judge or someone who can decide the outcome of a dispute árbitro — the masculine Spanish noun of the same meaning árbitra — the feminine Spanish noun When learning Spanish, I came upon “árbitro” in the vocabulary for sports because it’s the word for “referee.” I was young then and hadn’t had any contact with the legal system yet, so I couldn’t make the connection and had a hard time re...

supplicate — to humbly and earnestly ask for something suplicar — the Spanish verb cognate of the same meaning Both these words come from Latin’s supplicare which means “to kneel.” Another version of asking humbly or earnestly for something happens when one kneels to pray. Thus, when you kneel and pray, you become a “supplicant,” or one who is humbly and earnestly asking for something. In Spanish,...

defile — a verb meaning “to march in a military line” desfilar — the Spanish verb and cognate meaning “to parade past” Unlike English, the Spanish verb isn’t reserved for military processions, and for that reason, it is much better known and much more commonly used than its English cognate. In fact, when you read the title of this entry, I doubt military parade marching even entered your mind, and...

silva — the forest trees of a region selva — the Spanish cognate meaning “forest” or even “jungle” “Silva” and “selva” both come from Latin’s sylva which means “forest” or “wood.” While the word “silva” isn’t used very often in English, the adjective of “sylvan” is quite well known. I’ve been spending time lately in a sylvan part of the country as I’m in Tennessee, surrounded by the woods of the A...

cinch — a strap that goes around a horse to hold the saddle on cincha — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning We took our English word of “cinch” from the Spanish word “cincha,” but they both hearken back to Latin and the verb cingere which means “to gird,” or “to encircle and bind.” Thus, the reason for the medieval torture device once worn by women called a “girdle,” but I digress. Knowing “ci...

coquetry — flirtation coquetería — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning Do people even say “flirting” anymore? I tend to hear the much more violent-sounding term of “hitting on” being used, as in “He’s hitting on me.” But I prefer the gentler sounding “flirting with,” as in “He’s flirting with me.” I used to be quite the flirt in my younger days. In other words, I was a “coquette.” “Coquette” i...

lucent — an adjective meaning “shining” or glowing with light luciente — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning These words come to us from Latin’s lucere which means “to shine.” When taking a Spanish language course, the vocabulary word “luz” will come up fairly early on. “Luz” means “light” as in the thing that glows, not the kind of meal you should be eating when on a diet — that “light” is “l...

nubilous — cloudy or foggy or misty; essentially something obscure nublado — the Spanish cognate that means “cloudy” “Nubilous” popped up on my phone yesterday because I subscribe to the word of the day from dictionary.com. When it did, my mouth literally gaped open. I taught Spanish for 30 years and never knew this word existed! I taught vocabulary for weather expressions over and over and over f...

basilica — for the purposes of this entry, a basilica is simply a large Roman Catholic church that has been given special ceremonial privileges and is the church that the Pope would visit if he were in the area basílica — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning I’m not a Catholic, so I won’t even pretend to understand the workings of that religion; however, I did teach Spanish for 30 years, and a...

clement — an adjective meaning merciful or mild clemente — the Spanish cognate of the same meanings. “Clement” goes back to Latin’s clemens which also meant “mild.” If you happen to be a literary fan, you might recognize that as the real last name of a famous American writer. He was best known as Mark Twain, but his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Our cognate duo is the perfect word to des...

sanguine — an adjective meaning optimistic or ruddy of complexion or bloodthirsty or related by blood sanguíneo — the masculine Spanish cognate of the same meanings sanguínea — the feminine Spanish cognate “Sanguine” must have been one of Jane Austen’s favorite adjectives because she used it repeatedly in her works. I recently read Mansfield Park and stumbled upon “sanguine” over and over to descr...

transcend — this is a verb that is used to show that something goes above or beyond the norm; to surpass or excel transcender — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning A few years ago I discovered American “Transcendentalism” through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau when I had an advanced junior level English class thrust upon me at the very start of a new school year. W...

maestro — an eminent composer, teacher, or conductor of music; a master at something maestro — the Spanish, Italian, and French cognates of the same meaning “Maestro” comes to us from Latin’s magister, which means “master.” It changed into “maestro” in the Italian language, from which we borrowed the word, and we can see that Spanish and French did as well. When learning the Spanish language, a wo...

volant — an adjective meaning that something is flying or capable of flying volante — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning When you learn Spanish, you will usually come upon the verb “volar,” which means “to fly.” “Volar” comes straight from the Latin verb volare which also means “to fly.” If you are a music buff, you might recognize “Volare” as the title of a song written and sung originally b...

atrocious — an adjective to describe something that is shockingly cruel or utterly appalling atroz — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning ferocious — an adjective to describe someone or something who is given to unrestrained brutality feroz — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning Normally, I stray nowhere near politics in the things I write, but today I’m making a small exception in relation...

vivify — this is a verb meaning to give life to or to endow with life; to animate something vivificar — this is the Spanish cognate of the same meaning In my 30 years of teaching high school Spanish, I will honestly tell you that I did not teach the word “vivificar;” however, I did teach the verb “vivir.” Hopefully, you see the similarity between “vivificar” and “vivir.” “Vivificar” means to anima...

comestible — an adjective meaning that something is edible or eatable comestible — the Spanish cognate of the same definition If you pluralize the word to “comestibles” it then becomes a noun and refers to food, which is, by its very nature, an edible product. Interestingly, this particular word has the same spellings and meanings as an adjective or as a noun in both English and Spanish. That’s pr...