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vibragiel | 12 years ago
You were contending that the etymology of "mosquito" can't be understood as Spanish for "little fly", which is untrue. See, "fly" is not a biological term, but a colloquial one, and describes a wide range of species (suborders, actually). So "mosquito", which originally was meant in Spanish as "pequeño mosco", could perfectly be translated as "little fly", for "mosco" is a type of "fly" and can be translated as such (as is the case of "moscón", "moscarda", "moscardón"...)
> if you understand mosquito as "little fly", then how do you call actual mosquitos?
"Mosquitos". Because context. Just as I can know "bolsillo" means "pequeño bolso" (small bag) and cigarrillo means "pequeño cigarro" (small cigar), and simultaneously understand them as the envelope-like receptacle in clothing (pocket) and paper wrapped processed tobacco (cigarette), respectively.
ogig|12 years ago
http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=mosquito
There is no definition there stating that a mosquito is a small fly, (hint: derived diminutives don't make it into the rae dictionary). What you can see there is that the etymology is indeed from the diminutive of mosco. I never denied that, it's on my original post, they share latin root. Again, that doesn't make them mean the same.
You examples are so weird I highly doubt you are a native spanish speaker. Bolsillo is never used for a small bag, at least here, and cigarrillo is never used as cigar, but as cigarrete.
vibragiel|12 years ago
And whether or not you use it regularly with the original meaning. The frequency of usage does not invalidate this truth: the rules of diminutive formation entail that "bolsillo" is "bolso pequeño". There's no arguing this statement. Just as "mosquito" is "mosco pequeño", i.e. "small fly".
The same can be said for plenty of other words. Words that have developed a specific separate meaning but are still diminutives for the non-affixed original word. Meet polysemy.
Sorry, but "cochinilla" is still "cochina pequeña", "cabezón" is still "cabeza grande", "cabecilla" is still "cabeza pequeña", and "frailecillo" is still "pequeño fraile".
It would be mistaken and a bit obtuse to nitpick on an article which states that "cabecilla" is Spanish for "small head" by contending that no, it means "leader".