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abu. abuelo

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:20 am
by William Hupy
Abu in Arabic means "father of" and abuelo in Spanish means "grandfather". I am certain abu generated abuelo from the time of the Moorish occupation of Spain. The words are just too close to be coincidence. Also, check out the Portugese word for grandfather. It is very close to Spanish. French, on the other hand is not. Anyone with any thoughts on this?

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:46 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Ab or abba means father in Hebrew, another Semitic language. The Jewish dispersion may also have influenced Spanish.

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:11 pm
by bnjtokyo
My Spanish is pretty poor, but at this link
http://etimologias.dechile.net/?abuelo
The commentators seem to say abuelo
1. is related Vulgar Latin *aviolus
2. also related to Hebrew abba
3. also related Arabic (via the Moorish period) abu

If someone could summarize these Spanish comments in English, it would be interesting.

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:02 am
by Philip Hudson
And then there is aba daba daba, immortalized by Debbie Reynolds. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJHJAkhacGU

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:13 am
by William Hupy
Thanks, bnjtokyo. I am working on it.

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:05 pm
by Perry Lassiter
They author thinks that Abba came first from Hebrew to Arabic, an opinion that should send Arabians up the walls! He also believes the Spanish word Abuelo is at least equally influenced by Latin. After all Spanish is the Latin spoken in Spain.

Note he is speaking specifically of Castillian, taught most of us in school. Similar to Oxford English. Those who have spoken to Mexicans know that their Spanish is very different, Tex-Mex, as Philip has noted on here. Cuban is probably the closest on this continent to Castillian.

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:30 pm
by William Hupy
But, Perry, Hebrew and Arabic are both semitic languages with a common origin.

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:54 am
by Perry Lassiter
Of course They are. I personally have no trouble with it. I am a little cynical about Arabs admitting that Hebrew was prior to their language.

Re: abu. abuelo

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:23 am
by Philip Hudson
William: It is not the root source of abuelo that is in tension here. It is the path it took to Spanish. I vote for the Moorish occupation as the source. I believe there is a Spanish word for God that is very near the Arabic Allah. Who knows it? The English theological word Elohim, cognate to Allah, is directly from the Hebrew.