The Spanish huso (“spindle” — what Cinderella uses to weave!)
comes from the Latin for the same: fusus. The transition is clear when
we remember that the initial F in Latin usually turned i...
Fervor is really just an intense passion heating up. Thus we
shouldn’t be surprised that it comes from the Latin root fervere
(“to boil”), from which we get the Spanish for the same (“to
...
The Spanish hambre, for “hunger”, makes sense if you know two
different patterns. Firstly, the initial f-to-h pattern: words that
began with an f- then a vowel in Latin tended to have the f- ...
The Spanish rehusar — literally, “refuse” — sounds odd to
English ears: it’s the same word, but the -f- became an -h-. Huh?
This is explained via the pattern of Latin words that began w...
If he is fuming, he is smoking — literally. And it is, subtly, the
same word in Spanish. “To fume” comes from the Latin root fumus
(“smoke”) from which we also get the common Spanish wo...
A “shooting star” in Spanish is an estrella fugaz. Since estrella
means “star”, then fugaz is the parallel to “shooting.” Fugaz
comes from the Latin fugere which means, “to run away...
Hervir (Spanish for, “to boil”) comes from the Latin fervere
(“to be hot, burn, boil”). The best part: from this same root, we
also get the English… fever! Thus, this is another example...
The Initial F, followed by a vowel, disappears: So, “hoja“,
meaning “leaf” (in all senses: the autumn trees, the piece of
paper) is thus, from the same Latin root as “foliage“, the gr...
The Spanish hilo (cord; thread; string) comes from the Latin for the
same, filum. The words sound very different, until we remember that,
words in Latin that began with an f- tended to change to ...
The Spanish “hablar” (“to talk”) comes from the vulgar Latin
“fabulari”, also meaning “to talk” – hence the English,
“fable”. This gets very interesting very quickly, so not...
