iberianature – Spanish history and culture

Origin of cerveza

I love this page Etymologically Speaking…with its curious list origins of English, French, German and Spanish words. Shame he or she hasn’t written any more.

This is what it says about cerveza:

This term, which means “beer” in Spanish, originally came from the medieval French word cervoise. For its part, the French term origianlly stemmed from the Gallo-Roman (that is, ancient French-Latin dialect) word cerevisia, which was used in honor of Ceres, the Roman goddess of the harvest. It is interesting to note that just about the time that the Spanish were adopting the term cerveza (aroung 1482), the French started to drop cervoise in favor of the term biere– from the Germanic term Bier (from the Latin biber, “to drink”), which was the term that was more popular in northern Europe, where the climate was more favorable to the production of the grains that were used to make the beverage. [(A footnote: the reader might be wondering what term was used in Spain before the adoption of cerveza. Before 1482, the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula had used the completely-unrelated ancient Iberian word ceria or celia, meaning "fermented wheat.")(Footnote #2: The English term ale comes from the Scandinavian term for beer, oel. Although oel collectively refers to all types of beer, you beer purists out there know that the English term ale came to refer only to beer produced using the "top" fermentation process. Beer produced using the "bottom" fermentation process is called lager.)].

Posted in Etymology of Spanish words, Food and drink, Spanish language | Tags: Ceres, ceria, history of beer in Spai, history of Spanish beer, origen de cerveza, Roman goddess of the harvest |

The English influence on Menorca

After being captured by the English in 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, Menorca became,  with the occasional break,  an English possession. until it was finally ceded back to Spain under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. The British influence can still be seen in some of the architecture with elements such as sash windows. known locally as boinders. Another English influence is gin.  It was initially produced to satisfy the demands of British troops but eventually the local population took a taste to it, modifying the drink slightly with their own infusion of Mediterranean herbs. Today  it is both popular as a drink and as a sign of their cultural identity. Xoriguer (meaning Kestrel) is the most popular brand.

Menorquí, a variant of  Catalan, still retains a few English loan words from the occupation such as “grevi” (gravy – sauce), “xumaquer” (shoemaker), the aforesaid “boinder”, xoc” (chak) and “sarg” (bully) from sergeant, who no doubt used to throw their weight around. I was told by a Menorcan friend that when she was a little girl she used to play a game of cards with her grandmother, one of the rules of which involved having to count to ten in English in a Menorcan accent.

• Minorca on Wikipedia
• Gin de Menorca – Islas Baleares – Productos agroalimentarios …

Posted in Balearic Islands, Catalan, Drinks of Spain | Tags: English words in Catalan, influenec of English on other languages, Menorca, Menorcan accent, Menorcan gin, Minorcan accent |

The shortest place name in Spain

The town of Ea, in Vizcaya, the Basque Country, holds the honour of being the shortest place name in Spain. The town takes its name from the river which runs through it.

See also

• Town of Ea (Wikipedia)
• Short place_names (wikipedia)

Posted in Basque Country, Vizcaya | Tags: Ea, Spanish toponyms, Strange names for towns, Toponyms in Spain, Vizcaya |

Anis del mono

Anís del Mono is the trade-mark of a classic Spanish anisette liqueur, the name meaning “The Monkey’s Anisette.”  The drink is strongly flavoured with aniseed, and is often taken in coffee as a cajarillo de anis. It is distilled in Badalona, next to Barcelona, in its beachside factory. The iconic bottle design features the face of a monkey-like Charles Darwin, used since 1902. It is unsure whether the original idea was to discredit Darwin or just take advantage of the ensuing contemporary debate.

La primera defiende que Bosch, notario y afamado empresario, aprovechó el debate que suscitaban las teorías de Darwin para publicitar su marca como la más evolucionada; otros defienden que se buscaba desacreditar al científico. Sea como fuera, lo cierto es que la visita a la fábrica del Anís refinado Vicente Bosch, más conocido como Anís del Mono, deja hoy un muy buen sabor de boca. El Pais

Note: Anis del mono was originally produced in 1904 under the trade-mark name Anís del Juliano or “Julian’s Anisette.”

A number of Spanish artists have paid testament to the superb design of the bottle.

Juan Gris painted this work in 1914 entitled Anis del Mono.

And Picasso painted in 1915 Bottle of Anís del Mono, Wineglass and Playing Card

Characters in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and Hills Like White Elephants drink and discuss Anís del Toro—’Bull’s Anisette’, clearly the bullfight-loving Hemingway’s pun or joke on the original.

The girl looked at the bead curtain. ‘They’ve painted something on it,’ she said. ‘What does it say?’

‘Anis del Toro. It’s a drink.’

‘Could we try it?’

The man called ‘Listen’ through the curtain. The woman came out from the bar.

‘Four reales.’ ‘We want two Anis del Toro.’

‘With water?’

‘Do you want it with water?’

‘I don’t know,’ the girl said. ‘Is it good with water?’

‘It’s all right.’

‘You want them with water?’ asked the woman.

‘Yes, with water.’

‘It tastes like liquorice,’ the girl said and put the glass down.

‘That’s the way with everything.’

‘Yes,’ said the girl. ‘Everything tastes of liquorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.’

Hills Like White Elephants

Posted in Food and drink, Spanish icons | Tags: Anís del Juliano, Badalona, Badalona anis factory, Bottle of Anis del Mono by Juan Gris, Bottle of Anís del Mono, Bottle of Anís del Mono Wineglass and Playing Card, Bull's Anisette, Charles Darwin icons, Hemingway and Anis, Spanish alcoholic drinks, The Monkey's Anisette |

Spanish words from Celtic languages

I came across this interesting list of words in Spanish which possibly come from Celtic languages (Gaulish and others) on Wikipedia, including these words:

• barro “mud”; akin to Middle Irish broch “garbage”, Welsh barros “bush”
• brezo “heather”; akin to Welsh grug, Cornish grig, Middle Breton groegan, Old Irish froech, Irish fraoch
• brujo “sorceror”, bruja “witch” (also Port bruxa, Catal bruixa); akin to Middle Welsh brith-ron “magic wand”, Breton bre “witch, magic”, breoù “spells, charms”, Old Irish brigim “to light up, illuminate”, Brigit “shining one”.
• tejon “badger”; akin to Old Irish tadg “badger”, Scottish taghan “marten”
• sabueso “hound” (also Port sabuja, Ital segugio, Old Fr seüz); akin to Old Irish sechim “I follow”, Irish seach “to follow”, Middle Welsh -hei “seeker” (cf. cardotei “beggar”), Old Breton -heiat “searcher, gatherer” (cf. cnouheiat “nut gatherer”)

The wikipedia list uses Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española by Guido Gómez de Silva as a reference.

 See also Celtic origin of word braga (knickers) here “No, no; no es que hoy vaya a publicar una entrada “porno”.  La palabra braga(s), que en España designa una prenda interior femenina, es de origen celta y muy decente. A nosotros nos llega por mediación del latín braca….

Posted in Etymology of Spanish words, Spanish language | Tags: Celtic languages in Spain, Gaulish Spanish, origin of Spanish words |

Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos

Today the Benedictine Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos is famous around the world for its recordings of Gregorian chants , but it is also one of the best examples of Romanesque architecture in Spain, The monastery was originally of Visigothic origin but was razed to the ground by the Arabs, and rebuilt by Santo Domingo, whose remains lie in a sarcophagus carved out of the rock. The monastery was located  in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in southern Burgos. Although most of the abbey’s church was demolished and rebuilt during the 18th century, absence of funds saved the cloister from the same fate, and visitors can still enjoy the original 11th- and 12th century carved capitals and bas-reliefs depicting scenes from The Bible, along with figurative elements, such as plants and mythical centaurs and griffins. The cloister is also famous for its single cypress, which was planted in the late 19th century and now towers to a height of 25 metres. The cypress has inspired a number of writers, including the poet Gerardo Diego, whose sonnet El ciprés de Silos (Enhiesto surtidor de sombra y sueño que…) is considered a masterpiece of Spanish literature, and by many as the greatest sonnet in Castillian. Picture from wikipedia above taken by Mark Somoza in the monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos in Burgos.  Note cypress in middle.

The monastery’s scriptorium was important, and produced a famous finely illuminated Beatus manuscript (a commentary upon the Apocalypse). 

This is now in the British Library (full image here). The abbey’s museum is also well worth a visit, housing a collection of works of art, including a large 16th-century monstrance designed for use during religious processions, and an 11th.century silver chalice said to have been commissioned.

• A community of monks still live, pray and sing in the abbey, which accpets visitors for three- to eight-day stays wit rooms and meals for 37 euros a day in 2009. However, only male guests are allowed.

• As noted above, the monks have become world-famous with the issue of several Gregorian chant albums, including Chant which reached #3 on the Billboard 200 music chart, and was certified as triple platinum, becoming the best-selling album of Gregorian chant ever released.

External links

• wikipedia: Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey
• Official website

Posted in Burgos, Castilla-León culture, Spanish architecture, Spanish art | Tags: Beatus manuscript, Cypress of Silos, El ciprés de Silos, monstrance, Romanesque architecture in Spain, Spanish Gregorian chants, Spanish sonnets |

Joaquim Mir

Orange grove (Mallorca)

Barcelona’s Caixaforum is hosting a new exhibition on Catalan landscape artist and modernist Joaquim Mir (1873-1940). He began his painting career with a group of artists (the so-called Colla del Safrà) who would head for the outskirts of Barcelona to paint in the open air. He then spent some time painting the wild cliffs on of northern Mallorca where he was said to have “gone crazy in a delirium of fusion with nature”. In later years he studied the Costa Brava and Montserrat. His work is full of light and colour, and depicts shadowy forests, black roofs and rugged terrain. He is considered one of the greatest Spanish landscape artists.

The Rock in the Pond

The MNAC (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya) website describes Mir thus:

Joaquim Mir, one of the most advanced, intuitive and personal leading figures of the second generation of Modernista painters, can be considered the most gifted landscape painter of his generation and perhaps even the best representative of modern Catalan painting. After having trained in landscape Realism, in 1899 Mir moved to Majorca, where he began to explore his own personal vision of landscape. His works of this period reflect the exaltation of unrestrained Nature, unreal almost, brimming with bold ranges of colour. Following a fall (fortuitous or otherwise) from a cliff in Majorca, Mir was admitted to the psychiatric hospital in Reus. In 1906 he settled in the Camp de Tarragona region, where he remained until 1910, and painted a series of extraordinary landscapes that crown the phase of work he had commenced in Majorca. In short, colour is the key element in this painter’s artistic language, which virtually verges on abstraction. MNAC

Joaquín Mir i Trenxet: La encina y la vaca /The holm oak and the cow (1915)

Posted in Barcelona, Catalan culture, Spanish art, Spanish painters | Tags: Caixaforum, Catalan landscape artists, Colla del Safrà, Joaquim Mir, Joaquim Mir in Mallorca, The Rock in the Pond |

Shipwrecks around the Spanish coast

The Independent has this interesting piece on shipwrecks around the Spanish coast

Spain’s seabed is home to the wrecks of hundreds of ships laden with treasures plundered during the country’s imperial zenith. Now the battle is on to reclaim them.

Maritime historical experts say that, scattered around the Spanish coastline, lies more gold and silver than in the vaults of the Bank of Spain. There are said to be the 700 shipwrecks, from Roman barges, to Spanish Golden Age galleons and British aircraft carriers. Read

See also Shipwreck in Galicia

Posted in Spanish history, Spanish maritime history | Tags: shipwrecks in Spain, Spanish shipwrecks |

Las Hurdes

The county of Las Hurdes (470 km²) is located in northern Cáceres, Extremadura, and is bordered to the north by Sierra de Gata, and the River Ambroz Valley to the south. Until recently this was one of the most undeveloped corners of Europe, and one of the poorest in Spain, brought to the international limelight by Luis Buñuel’s 1932 grotesque-surreal documentary, Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan (”Land Without Bread”), which showed the region and its inhabitants (hurdanos), in a none-too-flattering light. Bruñel had been attracted by a series of official Spanish reports in the previous decades on the backwardness and poverty of the region, and by a famous 1922 visit by King Alfonso XVIII, possibility titillated by the medieval conditions of his subjects, though it did lead to improvements. Las Hurdes has taken decades to shake off this image.

Agriculture is hampered here by low rainfall and poor siliceous soils. The economy, such as there was, was based on olives, potatoes, cereals, and cork oaks. The feudal structure further impoverished the region’s inhabitants until the 20th century. In recent years, living standards in Hurdas have sinceimproved considerably. Rural tourism has brought money in, and beekeeping is also a major source of income, with its numerous hives producing some 200,000 kilos of honey and 60,000 kilos of polen a year. This said, the region still has serious economic difficulties heightened by an aging populace and a process of depopulation.

Practical information

• A private vehicle is essential to explore Las Hurdes.
• Approach Las Hurdes from Plasencia, Salamanca or Ciudad Rodrigo
• There are five municipalities in the La Comarca de Las Hurdes:
  

  Caminomorisco

  Casares de las Hurdes

  Ladrillar

  Nuñomoral

  Pinofranqueado

Around the web

• Las Hurdes (Spanish- Wikipediia – good links)
• Practical tips (Rough Guides)
• Tierra Sin Pan the film (Spanish – Wikipediia)
• An Ethnographic Surrealist Film: Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread
  

  Bunuel and the land that never was (The Guardian)Did the great Spanish film-maker fake his most famous documentary? Geoffrey McNab investigates ‘He prostituted and falsified history disgracefully… His whole film is one big lie… He was very cruel to blacken us in that way… I think it’s a pointless film.”These are a few of the milder responses from present-day residents of Las Hurdes, a remote part of northern Spain, to the documentary that Luis Bunuel made in their backyard in 1932. Land Without Bread painted a world of poverty and disease. Bunuel’s camera caught images of goitred women and ravaged old men, of dead babies, deformed midgets and in-bred cretins. It showed a region without basic amenities – roads, electricity.

Posted in Extremadura culture | Tags: Caceres, History of Las Hurdes, King Alfonso XVIII, Land Without Bread, Luis Buñuel |