{"id":4482,"date":"2015-05-21T17:58:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T17:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4482"},"modified":"2026-07-15T15:11:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:11:02","slug":"the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dating back to the 10th century, Medieval Spanish, or Old Castilian, began to make its mark on the world, changing and transforming over the centuries to become what we recognise today as modern-day Spanish. It was once the language of the Iberian Peninsula, the diplomatic tongue of the 18th century, and is now one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world as well as the second-most studied. Understanding where a language comes from and how it develops is an important part of the learning process, not to mention it can be extremely fascinating as well! So take a break from Spanish grammar, vocab, and conversation starters and take a look at these 8 Spanish word roots and their intriguing origins.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Cirujano (Surgeon)<\/h2>\n<p><i>Cirujano<\/i> started to make the rounds in the Spanish language sometime in the 14th century. The roots of this Spanish word have their origin in Latin (<i>chirurgia<\/i>) and originally meant \u2018manual work\u2019 or \u2018to work with your hands.\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo_1-341.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4485 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo_1-341.jpg\" alt=\"Surgeons, exmplifying the Spanish word roots of &quot;cirujano&quot;\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a>Image via <\/i><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/17868205@N00\/8116089574\">PhotoPin<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<h2>2. Hasta (Until)<\/h2>\n<p><i>Hasta <\/i>is a perfect example of the influence Arabic has on the Spanish language. This word is derived from the Arabic term <i>hata<\/i> and carries the same meaning in both tongues!<\/p>\n<h2>3. Dicha (Happiness)<\/h2>\n<p>Although <i>dicha <\/i>does come from the word <i>decir<\/i> which means \u2018to talk\u2019, if you trace it back to its Greek and Latin origins it derives from the word <i>dicta<\/i> (things said). Basically, Romans believed that a person\u2019s happiness, or fate, was written in the <i>dicta<\/i> by the gods!<\/p>\n<h2>4. Aceite (Oil)<\/h2>\n<p>Like many Spanish words, <i>aceite <\/i>is derived from an Arabic word. <i>Azzait <\/i>in Arabic refers to the liquid made from olives (not the kind you put in your car).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo_2-34.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4483 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo_2-34.jpg\" alt=\"Bottle of oil, whose Spanish word roots come from Arabic\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a>Image via <\/i><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/86083886@N02\/8140901861\">PhotoPin<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<h2>5. Saludo (Greeting)<\/h2>\n<p><i>Saludo<\/i> has two Latin roots: <i>salv <\/i>and <i>salu<\/i> both of which can be given the same meaning of \u2018salutation.\u2019<\/p>\n<h2>6. Ojala (Hopefully)<\/h2>\n<p>Yet another word of Arabic origin, <i>ojala<\/i> comes from the Arabic term <i>wa sha allah<\/i> which means \u2018should God will it.\u2019 It\u2019s a term best used for good wishes for uncertain outcomes!<\/p>\n<h2>7. Helado (Ice cream, Frozen)<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s go back to the Spanish words with Latin roots for this one! <i>Helado <\/i>derives from the Latin origin <i>gelare. <\/i>You can see these same roots in Italian with the word <i>gelato<\/i>. Yum!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo_3-25.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4486 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Photo_3-25.jpg\" alt=\"Helado, one of the spanish words with latin roots\" width=\"600\" height=\"402\" \/><\/a>Image via <\/i><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/34155154@N08\/5449205844\">PhotoPin<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<h2>8. Bajo (Low)<\/h2>\n<p><i>Bajo <\/i>derives from the Latin word <i>bassus <\/i>which means \u2018low.\u2019 Of course <i>bajo <\/i>in Spanish is also used to refer to the bass guitar, so the root <i>bassus <\/i>really makes sense!<\/p>\n<p>The next time you put these words to use in your everyday vocabulary, you\u2019ll have a whole new appreciation and greater understanding of the Spanish language! But don\u2019t limit your language education to etymology, be sure to continue to develop your own skills whether with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/spanish-courses.php\">excellent language classes<\/a>. This way you can love the Spanish language in all its forms: past, present, and future!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Article updated on September 17, 2021.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dating back to the 10th century, Medieval Spanish, or Old Castilian, began to make its mark on&#8230;","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":7871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[865,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-and-heritage","category-spanish"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These Spanish words have much more surprising origins than you thought!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These Spanish words have much more surprising origins than you thought!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Language Trainers UK Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-21T17:58:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T15:11:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Juan Nario\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Juan Nario\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/\",\"name\":\"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-21T17:58:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-15T15:11:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0a7dfc8e016dbe98eecd993700867fc\"},\"description\":\"These Spanish words have much more surprising origins than you thought!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":427},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Language Trainers UK Blog\",\"description\":\"Any language, any time, anywhere\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0a7dfc8e016dbe98eecd993700867fc\",\"name\":\"Juan Nario\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Juan-profile-pic-185x185.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Juan-profile-pic-185x185.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Juan Nario\"},\"description\":\"Juan is a freelance writer who is just a bit obsessed with languages. Upon majoring in English, he has been working as a blogger and content writer for clients from all over the globe. His interest in languages and literature has led him to work as a translator for small publishing companies and theatre companies. When he is not working or studying, he loves to watch foreign films, take pictures, and write short stories.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/author\/juannario\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins","description":"These Spanish words have much more surprising origins than you thought!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins","og_description":"These Spanish words have much more surprising origins than you thought!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/","og_site_name":"Language Trainers UK Blog","article_published_time":"2015-05-21T17:58:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-15T15:11:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Juan Nario","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Juan Nario","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/","url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/","name":"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg","datePublished":"2015-05-21T17:58:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-15T15:11:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0a7dfc8e016dbe98eecd993700867fc"},"description":"These Spanish words have much more surprising origins than you thought!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-letizia-brt-15843133.jpg","width":640,"height":427},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/the-root-in-the-word-8-spanish-words-and-their-origins\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Root in the Word: 8 Spanish Words and Their Origins"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Language Trainers UK Blog","description":"Any language, any time, anywhere","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0a7dfc8e016dbe98eecd993700867fc","name":"Juan Nario","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Juan-profile-pic-185x185.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Juan-profile-pic-185x185.jpg","caption":"Juan Nario"},"description":"Juan is a freelance writer who is just a bit obsessed with languages. Upon majoring in English, he has been working as a blogger and content writer for clients from all over the globe. His interest in languages and literature has led him to work as a translator for small publishing companies and theatre companies. When he is not working or studying, he loves to watch foreign films, take pictures, and write short stories.","url":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/author\/juannario\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4482"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6874,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4482\/revisions\/6874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}