Hispanicisms in English are words or phrases from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

influence on English. For a number of historical, political and cultural reasons, Hispanicisms in English are less widespread than anglicisms in Spanish. Nevertheless, they are very notable in certain areas of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, such as the U.S.-Mexican border,

Southern Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are Central Florida and North Florida. S ...

, and certain neighborhoods of large cities in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

. Over the centuries Spanish has made many lexical contributions to English, and continues to do so. Some of these contributions have been directly from Spanish words, and in other cases Spanish has served as the conduit for words which originated in other languages with a special relationship to Spanish, such as Arabic and the Indian languages of the New World. Things and customs which originated in the Spanish-speaking world, (such as bullfighting, typical dances, special foods) are also obvious generators of Hispanicisms in English. Some words have special historical significance, such as "

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

" (the word used by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's forces to describe the way the Spanish fought in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

), or the term "

fifth column A fifth column is a group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize ...

" which as ''quinta columna'' was used by a

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

general to label his covert supporters in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

as he laid siege to it. Many geographic place names in the United States have Spanish origins as a legacy of the time when these regions were under Spanish or Mexican control, or as indicators that Hispanic explorers passed that way. Pei notes, for example that three dangerous rocks on the Alaskan coast bear the names Abreojo, Alárgate, and Quita Sueño.Pei, Mario, ''What's in a Word?'' N.Y.: Hawthorn Books, 1968, p. 76

Notes

References

* Child, Jack. ''Introduction to Spanish Translation''. Lanham: University Press of America, 1992. * Larson, Mildred. ''Meaning-Based Translation''. Lanham: University Press of America, 1984. * Nida, Eugene A. ''Language, Structure and Translation''. Stanford: Stanford University Press,1975. * Vázquez-Ayora, Gerardo. ''Introducción a la Traductología''. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1977. Forms of English English language Spanish language Translation {{English-lang-stub