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Re: Greekisms in Spanish

From:Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...>
Date:Thursday, February 18, 1999, 3:36
Pablo Flores wrote:
>The problem was: > >_facies_ "face" >_fascis_ "a lot of plant stems tied together" (what's the English
word?) I think the word you're looking for is "sheaf".
> >When the last sounds were simplified we got "faz" for both words, >and if things had been let to follow this course, they would have >become "haz" and then "az", this last word in turn becoming identical >to "az" < "acies" ("vanguard, front line"). So "acies" disappeared; >"haz" was only used for _fascis_, and "faz" was frozen, its place >taken by the Greek loan "cara". Today, "faz" means "face" but only >in poetic writing and a fixed phrase "la faz de la tierra" = "the >face of the earth"; and "haz" /as/ means "beam/set of beams" (as in >"haz de luz" = "beam of light").
A sheaf of light? I like that image. Adam Walker ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com