Italian words from Spanish
5 Italian words with Spanish in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
compleanno
It is borrowed from Spanish cumpleaños, a compound of cumplir (“to complete, fulfil”) and the plural of año (“year”). Wiktionary calls it a partial calque, adapted to anno and perhaps to compiere…
grandioso
The origin is disputed. Nocentini, Devoto, Devoto–Oli and Sabatini–Coletti take the word from Spanish: it is borrowed from Spanish grandioso, a derivative of grandía (“greatness”). GRADIT and Devoto…
nord
It is borrowed from Spanish norte and French nord, which go back to Old English norþ. Migliorini held that the names of the cardinal points came into Italian through Spanish, so that the Hispanising…
peso
1. The weight is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pēsum, from Latin pēnsum, which in Latin meant the quantity of wool weighed out to a slave woman to spin in a day. “Pēnsum” is the neuter of pensus…
regalo
It is borrowed from Spanish regalo, the noun of regalar (“to give presents; to entertain”). The Spanish origin is shown by the late appearance of the family, from the 16th century, and by…