Have you ever wondered why Ecuador is so named? In Spanish, ecuador is the term for equator. Guess where Ecuador is situated on the globe.
I learned many such fascinating tidbits when studying Spanish over the last few years. I discovered that learning a new language opens doors to another culture. >From mosquito to parade to plaza, hundreds of terms from Spanish are now in everyday use in the English language. This week we'll take a look at a few other words in the English language that have their origins in Spanish. ¡Hasta mañana! peccadillo (pek-uh-DIL-o) noun A minor offense. [From Spanish pecadillo, diminutive of pecado (sin), from Latin peccare (to sin). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ped- (foot) which gave us not only peccadillo (alluding to a stumble or fall) but also pedal, impeccable, podium, octopus, and impeach.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=peccadillo -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "All legislation is said to aim at training citizens in good habits, but many of us count breaking of the law as a mere peccadillo." Nous; Virtue of Hanging the Veil of Purdah Over Liquor; The Sunday Times; (Colombo, Sri Lanka); May 13, 2007. Sponsors' messages: Do you love words? Then play Spinword, the all new exciting word game! Play free online now at http://www.joyboost.com/game/spinword?k=awad1 Subscribe to any of the French, German, Italian or Spanish Champs-Elysees Audio Magazines and get an extra issue free: http://web.champs-elysees.com/wsmith8 ............................................................................ The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind. -Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983) Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/peccadillo.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/peccadillo.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/peccadillo.html This message was sent to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
