sirgregory Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6741 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 1 of 5 28 August 2006 at 2:59pm | IP Logged |
I found out a few months ago that the Spanish word for passover (the Jewish feast) is Pascua. I found this interesting because it is the same word for Easter. I've asked several native speakers why this is and they had absolutely no idea.
Does anyone know about this?
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Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7103 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 2 of 5 28 August 2006 at 4:08pm | IP Logged |
The Christian festival of Easter is historically linked to Passover and the Spanish word is etymologically related to the Greek word for Passover.
Have a look at this Wiki link on the Nature and Development of Easter here.
Andy.
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patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7015 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map
| Message 3 of 5 28 August 2006 at 6:17pm | IP Logged |
Interestingly (or not, depending on your point of view!), in Gibraltar we call Christmas Pascua instead of Navidad.
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Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 4 of 5 28 August 2006 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
Patuco, I got curious here. Does that mean you _never_ use the word "navidad" at all, just "pascua"? Or, if that is not so, which of the two is more common and what is the pattern for when you use one and the other?
The expression "felices pascuas" can be heard in most parts of Spain, as well as "feliz navidad" for "Happy Christmas". But apart from that phrase it is normally "navidad" or "navidades" (singular and plural seem to be equally valid, with identical meaning, but that could be the subject of a different thread).
Edited by Hencke on 28 August 2006 at 7:11pm
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patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7015 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map
| Message 5 of 5 28 August 2006 at 7:47pm | IP Logged |
Hencke wrote:
Patuco, I got curious here. Does that mean you _never_ use the word "navidad" at all, just "pascua"? Or, if that is not so, which of the two is more common and what is the pattern for when you use one and the other? |
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Perhaps I should have been more specific. Sorry!
In Llanito, Pascua refers to Christmas and Navidad is never used, unless talking to Spaniards. We also use a corruption of the English word to form Cri'ma (the i is aspirated) but this is usually seen as rather crass.
The English word Easter is used for Easter (surprisingly!) but when speaking to Spaniards, Pascua is used.
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