Embarazada

"Embarazada" (IPA IPA| [embaɾa'θað̞a] or IPA| [embaɾa'sað̞a] ) is the Spanish word for pregnant. It is a false friend for native English-speaking students of Spanish who may attempt to say "I'm embarrassed" by saying "estoy embarazada"." This phrase actually means "I'm pregnant" in Spanish. This may be confusing to Spanish speakers who are not familiar with the English word, even more so when said by a man.

When Parker Pen entered the Mexican market, its advertisements which claimed that Parker Pens "won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you" was mistranslated to "No te embarazará chorreándose en tu bolsillo" which means "Won't leak in your pocket and impregnate you".¹

The correct way to say "I'm embarrassed" in Spanish is using the phrase "tengo vergüenza" (meaning "I have shame") or the more formal phrases "me da vergüenza" or "estoy avergonzado".² Yet, in Spanish, there also exists the adjective "embarazoso," meaning the same as "embarrassing" in its denotation of something that causes a sensation of unease, but not of shame.³ Complicating the issue further, "embarazada" can sometimes also mean "hampered", or "hindered".⁴ This more closely mirrors the original meaning of the English word "embarrass".⁵

Grammar

"Embarazada" is a past participle, meaning that it indicates a state resulting from a previous action. In English, past participles usually end in "-ed" (e.g., "destroyed"), and "embarazado" therefore translates directly into English as "impregnated". It is a conjugated form of "embarazar" "to impregnate". As the word "embarazado" is masculine, it is rarely encountered in Spanish. It is more common for the word "embarazada" to be used to describe pregnancy. However, "embarazado" can be used as a past participle in perfect tenses, as in: "Javier ha embarazado a María." (Javier has impregnated María.)

Etymology

The English word "embarrassed" is indirectly derived from the Spanish word. The first written usage of "embarrass" in English was in 1664 by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The word was derived from the French word "embarrasser", "to block" or "to obstruct", or figuratively, "to put one in a difficult situation".⁶ whose first recorded usage was by Michel de Montaigne in 1580. The French word was derived from the Spanish "embarazar", whose first recorded usage was in 1460 in "Cancionero de Stúñiga" (Songbook of Stúñiga) by Álvaro de Luna.⁷ The Spanish word likely comes from the Portuguese "embaraçar", which probably is a combination of the prefix "em-" (from Latin "in-" for "in-") with "baraça" "a noose", or "rope".⁸ "Baraça" originated before the Romans began their conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BCE.⁹ Thus, "baraça" could be related to the Celtic word "barr", "tuft". (Celtic people actually settled much of Spain and Portugal beginning in the 700s BCE, the second group of people to do so.)¹⁰ However, it certainly is not directly derived from it, as the substitution of "r" for "rr" in Iberian Romance languages was not a known occurrence.

Some say the Spanish word actually came from the Italian "imbarazzare", from "imbarazzo", "obstacle" or "obstruction". That word came from "imbarrare", "to block" or "to bar", which is a combination of "in-", "in", with "barra", "bar" (from the Vulgar Latin "barra", which is of unknown origin).¹¹ The problem with this theory is that the first known usage of the word in Italian was by Bernardo Davanzati (1529-1606), long after the word had entered Spanish.¹² Thus, modern scholars believe that the Italian word actually came from the Spanish one.¹³

ee also

*Spanglish

References

#Sandy Serva, "iLanguage Translations for Global Research", January 2003, Vol. 26, Issue 1, p 51.
#"embarazada", "Collins Spanish Dictionary" (2003) p. 1311.
#"embarazoso", op. cit., p.380.
#"embarazar", loc. cit.
#"embarrass", "The Oxford English Dictionary", (1989) [Retrieved on 2006-02-15] .
#Ibid.
#Joan Corominas and José Pacual, "embarazar", "Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico", (Gredos, 1980) Vol. II, p. 555-556.
#"embarrass", "Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged", (2002) [Retrieved on 2006-02-15] .
#Corominas, "embarazar".
#"Iberian", "Encyclopaedia Britannica", [Retrieved on 2006-02-15] .
#Corominas, "embarazar".
#"embarrass", "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language", (2000) [Retrieved on 2006-02-15] .
#"imbarazzare", "Grande Dizionario Italiano", (2007) [Retrieved on 2006-10-29] .