Over the last five centuries hundreds of Spanish words have entered the English language. Here is Part Four of my selection of the more common ones.
Part Four: From palomino to rumba
In the animal world we have palomino and pinto, used to describe the colourings of horses, both of which you might find on a ranch, from rancho, or at a rodeo. The puma, a cougar by another name, is often found living in the pampas.
In the world of bullfighting, the picador is the torero on horseback who tries to tear the bull’s neck muscles with a lance, accompanied by the orchestra in the plaza de toros playing a pasodoble or two.
A pasodoble is, of course, a dance, as are a pavana and a rumba.
In the town or in the pueblo the locals might go for a paseo (stroll) around the plaza (square).
Words for people are peon, a labourer, politico, a politician, who might utter a pronunciamiento and renegade from the Spanish word renegado, previously from Medieval Latin renegatus, past participle of renegar (to deny).
In the world of food and drink we have potato from patata, and panada, a type of soup made from old bread, and pistacho, a nut. In a posada (inn) you might drink from a porrón, a type of glass carafe with a spout.
Clothing includes a poncho or a peto, a type of dungaree or overall.
Which just leaves us with patio and peccadillo which need no explanation.
Oh, and pelota, the Basque ball game. And ría, an inlet or fjord in Galicia.
The final part in this series of articles covers sarsaparilla to zapateado. Please look out for it.