![\"IberianPeninsula\"](\"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/IberianPeninsula.png\")
<\/a>A quick look at a zoomed-out map of the Iberian peninsula reveals only a few major cities that appear to mean something and indeed do \u2013 Le\u00f3n is lion<\/strong> (stress required) as one would imagine, La Torreta is the turret<\/strong>, and Los Palmas de Gran Canaria is the palms of the grand canary (not shown) \u2013 but for the most part, major city names refer to untranslatable historical names (e.g., Madrid, originally a Moor fortress, may be derived from the Arabic magerit<\/em> or \u2018place of many streams,\u2019 appropriate it would seem for a capital).<\/p>\nAt the more local level, however, translations abound. Santiago de Compostela<\/strong> shows the compound making of its two names. Santiago is a mix of Santo and Diego or Saint James, who is believed buried there. As the story goes, a star lit the way to St. James\u2019s grave thus beginning the famous pilgrimage* walked or cycled from the French border by hundreds of thousands of peregrinos<\/em> (pilgrims) every year, and giving meaning to Santiago as well as Compostela, a mix of campo<\/em> and stela<\/em> or field and star (in Latin). Here, we see also how Iago (Shakespeare\u2019s star in Othello) and San Diego got their names, and the meaning of san<\/em>, santo<\/em>, or santa<\/em> in many Spanish-founded cities around the world (San Juan, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana) as well as the Portuguese version s\u00e3o<\/em> (S\u00e3o Paulo, S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9, S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o). Peregrino<\/em> also gives us the word peregrination in English.<\/p>\n There are many compound or part place names that translate either from the local language or from Spanish to English. In Galicia, La Coru\u00f1a\u2019 is \u2018the crown,\u2019 Foz is \u2018mouth,\u2019 Vilalba is \u2018dawn town.\u2019 Asturias boasts the most northern point in Spain, Cabo Pe\u00f1as, literally Cape of Rocks. My favourite is Viaducto de Lindabarcas or Viaduct of Pretty Boats. Caridad is \u2018charity,\u2019 Cortina is \u2018curtain,\u2019 Torrelavega could be \u2018the tower bottom.\u2019 There are many more.<\/p>\n The Toronto Blue Jays<\/strong> have had many Hispanic players whose names mean something when translated into English (as do other teams). Here is my list with translations to help the vocabulario<\/i> by word association. Some are obvious (blanco<\/i> or white) and others perhaps not so obvious (ramos<\/i> or bouquets). No doubt, I have missed a few, so please let me know of others and I\u2019ll add them to my Las Urracas de Toronto** list. I have left out names that have doubtful Hispanic provenance, for example, Darnell Coles (sprouts) and Mike Romano (Roman), or are identical, for example, Frank Viola (viola).<\/p>\nLanguage ASIDE (Gallego)<\/b> There are four official languages in Spain, Castellano (i.e<\/i>., Espa\u00f1ol, what we think of as the main Spanish language), Catal\u00e1n, Gallego, and Euskera. Catal\u00e1n, Gallego, and Euskera are the languages of the three separatist-minded communities Catalu\u00f1a, Galicia, and Pa\u00eds Vasco, and have their own language conventions. In Galicia, the letter \u2018l\u2019 is often omitted and thus \u2018La Coru\u00f1a\u2019 is written as \u2018A Coru\u00f1a\u2019 in Gallego (aka<\/i> Galego in Gallego!). As such, the meaning of \u2018A Coru\u00f1a\u2019 may be more easily understood by the English speaker as \u2018The Crown\u2019 (La Corona).<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n
Pronunciation ASIDE (\u00f1, z, and c<\/b>). The \u00f1 (pronounced enya) is the first really different Spanish stress mark the English speaker encounters. \u00e1, \u00e9, \u00ed, \u00f3, and \u00fa are for syllabic emphasis but don\u2019t change the sound, whereas \u00f1 does. The technical term is diacritical tilde<\/i> and changes the n to a ny<\/i> sound. Most have heard of El Ni\u00f1o (neenyo) and La Ni\u00f1a (neenya), the cyclical weather conditions that screw up travel plans in the States every 5 years or so (by warming and cooling the western Pacific Ocean with high and low surface air pressure). The \u00f1 does make a difference and can get one into occasional trouble. For example, a\u00f1o<\/i> means year, but ano<\/i> means ass, so it\u2019s important to wish one Feliz a\u00f1o<\/i> (an-yo) and not Feliz ano<\/i> (an-no). Think of Enya, the Irish singer, to get the right sound.<\/span><\/h5>\n
As for the letter z, we have the golfer Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Olaz\u00e1bal to thank for helping the world to speak better Spanish. When he burst onto the golfing scene, no one outside of Spain really knew how to pronounce his name, although we all tried. Oh-laz-a-bel and Oh-laf-a-bel were popular for a while, but he now is generally called Oh-la-tha-bel (with the stress on the tha). One shouldn\u2019t be surprised by his second name either; half of Spain has a first or second name Mar\u00eda (more on that later).<\/span><\/h5>\n
The letter c is probably the most region-defining sound in Spanish, sounded either as a th (e.g<\/i>., Barthelona) as spoken by most Spaniards (aside from Andalusia) or an s (e.g<\/i>., grasias) as spoken in Andalusia and most of the Spanish-speaking non-Iberian world. To the English speaker, it sounds like a lisp. In Spain, it\u2019s hip to lithp.<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n