mardi, février 07, 2006

¿dónde está tu duende?

Well I'll be damned. I learned a great new word (in two languages) this morning.
du·en·de
n. The ability to attract others through personal magnetism and charm.

[Spanish dialectal, charm, from Spanish, ghost, from Old Spanish, owner, proprietor, from duen de (casa), lord of (a house) : duen, lord (from Latin dominus. See dem- in Indo-European Roots) + de, of (from Latin d. See de-).]

But a few other sources say that duende means "hob, sprite, puck, elf, goblin" in Spanish. (I can see how the etymology evolved and how one is really a characteristic of the other, but wonder why the good people at Dictionary.com got it so wrong. )

Bilingual superfriends to the rescue ... how common is this word en Espanol? I've never encountered it as such — instead, I've used pícaro to describe people with these qualities.

1 commentaire:

Unknown a dit…

So would you say that, perhaps, I see someone at a bar and think to myself, "That girl at the far end of the room has some major duende. She's got me transfixed. Her ojos have captured my ojos' attention, si"....or no?