Dormouse559 wrote: ↑15 Apr 2020 01:11All4Ɇn wrote: ↑15 Apr 2020 00:46
Sueco "Swede" and
zueco "clog"
Both pronounced exactly the same outside of Spain and I could see people thinking they're related since Sweden is home to träskor
Hmm,
zueco pretty clearly comes from Latin
soccus, so I wonder why the initial consonant fronted.
It's just an example of historical confusion among Old Spanish sibilants across points of articulation. Although the general pattern truly was /s/ > /s z/, /k(i,e,ɛ) kj tj dz/ > /ts dz/, there's quite a number of cases where ancient /s/ ends up as /ts dz/, for example:
- serāre >
çerrar (> cerrar)
- *sub-bullīre >
çabullir (> zabullir)
- sulfur > *sulfurem > a
zufre
(the a- is prob. an influence of azúcar < Arabic as-sukkar)
- cerasia > çere
za (> cereza)
- cerevisia > çerve
za (> cerveza)
- *sub-superāre > so
zobrar (> zozobrar, cf. superāre > sobrar)
There's a number of similar sibilant confusions, especially /s/ > /ʃ/ and /ʝ/ > /ʒ/ (the latter change increased in number of attestations by Latin influence in more formal words like iūstus > yusto > justo, iūdicem > juez):
- sūcus > xugo (> jugo)
- sapōnem > xabón (> jabón)
- passerem > páxaro (> pájaro, cf. Portuguese pássaro)
- forficēs tōnsōriās > tixeras (> tijeras, cf. Portuguese tesoura)
- iam magis > jamás (cf. iam > ya)
- iocus > juego
- iūncus > junco
- gentem > yente > gente
There is also a set of /s ts/ > /tʃ/ words, which are often reasonably thought to be inter-dialectal borrowings (Mozarabic notably has /k/ > /tʃ/), but which I tend to think might be in part due to the association of the sound /tʃ/ with very colloquial/informal and even childish notions. Some of them are doublets with the expected /s ts/ word.
- Late Latin zanca 'Persian-style shoe' > çanca '"foot" of a bird' (> zanca)
- Late Latin zanca (+ diminutive -etta) > chanca, chanqueta 'slipper' (> chancla, chancleta 'flip-flop, slipper')
- schisma > çisma 'schism' (perhaps a learned word; > cisma)
- schisma > chisme 'gossip, rumour'
- sībilāre 'to hiss' > silbar 'to whistle, usually pleasantly with a melody'
- sībilāre > chiflar 'to whistle loudly [to call somebody]'
- sībilāre > chillar 'to cry painfully like a child'
- *sub-puteāre (literally "do-a-well under") > chapuzar 'to throw someone [into a lake, river, etc.] for fun, (
reflexive) to dunk [into a lake, etc.]'
- *sub-putāre (literally "under-trim") > chapodar 'to trim [a tree] badly, without art' (cf. putāre > podar 'to trim [a tree]')
- ciccus > chico 'small (a rather cute word, cf. the more neutral pequeño)'
- cicerus > chícharo 'pea'
- soccus + diminutive -ulus > choclo 'wooden sole shoe to avoid mud' (cf. zueco)