PODCAST

Cognate Cognizance Podcast

Tammy Marshall

Knowing cognates can strengthen your vocabulary skills. cognatecognizance.substack.com

education language learning

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3:03

Cinch

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/04/11

cinch — a strap that goes around a horse to hold the saddle oncincha — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningWe took our English word of “cinch” from the Spanish word “cincha,” but they both hearken back to Latin and the verb cingere which means “to gird,” or “to encircle and bind.” Thus, the reason for the medieval torture device once worn by women called a “girdle,” but I digress.Knowing “cincha” from “cinch” or vice versa makes learning two very useful Spanish words quite easy. Those words are

3:09

Coquetry

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/04/04

coquetry — flirtationcoquetería — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningDo people even say “flirting” anymore? I tend to hear the much more violent-sounding term of “hitting on” being used, as in “He’s hitting on me.” But I prefer the gentler sounding “flirting with,” as in “He’s flirting with me.” I used to be quite the flirt in my younger days. In other words, I was a “coquette.”“Coquette” is a French word that we’ve borrowed and added to our language, and it’s the feminine version of “coquet.”

3:25

Lucent

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/28

lucent — an adjective meaning “shining” or glowing with lightluciente — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningThese words come to us from Latin’s lucere which means “to shine.” When taking a Spanish language course, the vocabulary word “luz” will come up fairly early on. “Luz” means “light” as in the thing that glows, not the kind of meal you should be eating when on a diet — that “light” is “ligero.” When pluralized, “luz” becomes “luces” and its connection to “lucent” becomes more obvious with

3:32

Nubilous

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/24

nubilous — cloudy or foggy or misty; essentially something obscurenublado — the Spanish cognate that means “cloudy”“Nubilous” popped up on my phone yesterday because I subscribe to the word of the day from dictionary.com. When it did, my mouth literally gaped open.I taught Spanish for 30 years and never knew this word existed! I taught vocabulary for weather expressions over and over and over for all those years and saw how students struggled to equate the word “nublado” with the English word

3:30

Basilica

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/21

basilica — for the purposes of this entry, a basilica is simply a large Roman Catholic church that has been given special ceremonial privileges and is the church that the Pope would visit if he were in the areabasílica — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningI’m not a Catholic, so I won’t even pretend to understand the workings of that religion; however, I did teach Spanish for 30 years, and a large majority of Spanish-speaking people practice Catholicism. During that time, I visited Mexico City

2:58

Clement

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/17

clement — an adjective meaning merciful or mildclemente — the Spanish cognate of the same meanings.“Clement” goes back to Latin’s clemens which also meant “mild.” If you happen to be a literary fan, you might recognize that as the real last name of a famous American writer. He was best known as Mark Twain, but his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.Our cognate duo is the perfect word to describe the weather we’ve been having this winter here in Nebraska. Normally, we battle subzero temperatures

Sanguine

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/14

sanguine — an adjective meaning optimistic or ruddy of complexion or bloodthirsty or related by bloodsanguíneo — the masculine Spanish cognate of the same meaningssanguínea — the feminine Spanish cognate“Sanguine” must have been one of Jane Austen’s favorite adjectives because she used it repeatedly in her works. I recently read Mansfield Park and stumbled upon “sanguine” over and over to describe certain characters’ optimistic outlooks. “Sanguine” is primarily used in English to signify that

Transcend

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/10

transcend — this is a verb that is used to show that something goes above or beyond the norm; to surpass or exceltranscender — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningA few years ago I discovered American “Transcendentalism” through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau when I had an advanced junior level English class thrust upon me at the very start of a new school year. Why I didn’t have much prior experience with these two men’s writings is something I’ve been asking myself

3:50

Maestro

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/07

maestro — an eminent composer, teacher, or conductor of music; a master at somethingmaestro — the Spanish, Italian, and French cognates of the same meaning“Maestro” comes to us from Latin’s magister, which means “master.” It changed into “maestro” in the Italian language, from which we borrowed the word, and we can see that Spanish and French did as well.When learning the Spanish language, a word that you will learn very early on, if you are learning the language in a traditional classroom setting

4:11

Volant

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/03/03

volant — an adjective meaning that something is flying or capable of flyingvolante — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningWhen you learn Spanish, you will usually come upon the verb “volar,” which means “to fly.” “Volar” comes straight from the Latin verb volare which also means “to fly.” If you are a music buff, you might recognize “Volare” as the title of a song written and sung originally by Domenico Modugno that has been redone by many artists including Dean Martin, Bobby Rydell, and The Gipsy

3:43

Atrocious and Ferocious

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/28

atrocious — an adjective to describe something that is shockingly cruel or utterly appallingatroz — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningferocious — an adjective to describe someone or something who is given to unrestrained brutalityferoz — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningNormally, I stray nowhere near politics in the things I write, but today I’m making a small exception in relation to the words I’ve chosen. Yes, I chose to highlight them because of the exceedingly “atrocious” events that

3:46

Vivify

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/24

vivify — this is a verb meaning to give life to or to endow with life; to animate somethingvivificar — this is the Spanish cognate of the same meaningIn my 30 years of teaching high school Spanish, I will honestly tell you that I did not teach the word “vivificar;” however, I did teach the verb “vivir.”Hopefully, you see the similarity between “vivificar” and “vivir.” “Vivificar” means to animate with life, like I mentioned above. “Vivir” means “to live.” It’s a very simple, yet very important and

3:12

Comestible

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/21

comestible — an adjective meaning that something is edible or eatablecomestible — the Spanish cognate of the same definitionIf you pluralize the word to “comestibles” it then becomes a noun and refers to food, which is, by its very nature, an edible product. Interestingly, this particular word has the same spellings and meanings as an adjective or as a noun in both English and Spanish. That’s pretty rare because there’s usually some variation in either the spelling or within the usages of most

3:15

Pantofles and Pantaloons

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/17

pantofle — a slipperpantufla — the Spanish cognate of the same meaningpantaloons — loosing-fitting, shorter trousers pantalones — the Spanish cognate that simply means “pants”You may wonder why I’m including “pantaloons” and “pantalones” as cognates when the meanings seem to be different, even though only slightly different. Well, that’s because we get our word “pants” from the word “pantaloons.” “Pants” is simply a shorter version of the same word even though we use “pants” to refer broadly to any

3:11

Enamored

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/14

enamored — an adjective meaning that you are “in love” with someone or something or charmed/captivated by someone or somethingenamorado/enamorada — the masculine and feminine Spanish adjectives that mean “in love”In honor of today being Valentine’s Day, I thought it fitting that my post be about loooove. Are you “enamored” of anyone or anything special? Hopefully, you’re becoming a bit more enamored of words thanks to me.The word “enamored” doesn’t come up a lot in English, at least in the U.S. It

3:45

Scribe

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/10

NOTE: Please notice that I’m including an audio version of this now. You can listen to it by clicking the play button above. Let me know if it is helpful and if I should continue doing it. There is a comment button at the bottom of the page.scribe — as a verb, this can simply mean “to write”escribir — this is the Spanish cognate and verb that means “to write”At first glance, you may not see these two words as cognates, but in Spanish, the only time that words begin with the letter “s” is when the

2:40

Majuscule

Cognate Cognizance Podcast ·

2022/02/07

SPECIAL NOTE: I am including an audio version of this. It should appear above. This is something I’m trying a time or two. I want feedback on it, please. My thought is that you could perhaps play it instead of read it if you are busy. It’s just something I’m experimenting with at the moment, so please do tell me what you think.Disclaimer: I make no claim to knowing how to pronounce Latin words correctly. Here’s the episode:majuscule – a capitalized letter; a large lettermayúscula – the Spanish

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