Rosa 'Winchester Cathedral' 8 August 2025

One advantage for me of this century is that because I speak two languages I am constantly comparing words that are supposed to be the same but end up having some differences. Stellar is the online version of the Spanish Dictionary of the Royal Academy (RAE – Real Academia Española).

I had to find a reason (a blog reason?) to scan this pair of English Roses, Rosa ‘Winchester Cathedral’. I had a suspicion of what I would find in my trusty RAE. Here is the definition of the root of cathedral:

Del lat. cathĕdra, y este del gr. καθέδρα kathédra 'asiento'.

I had an inkling as professors (in Spanish speaking universities) teach a particular course or cátedra. And the RAE links informs me that the root is from Latin from the Greek which means seat. Sometimes professors or teachers are called catedráticos.

My grandfather Don Tirso de Irureta Goyena, a Filipino of Basque origin, was the only person ever from the Philippines to have been a member of the lofty Real Academia Española. He died when he was 30 so he was not the usual old man that is a part of dictionaries and language. One of my favourite Spanish authors, Arturo Pérez Reverte is a member of the RAE so he brings some needed modernity to the institution.

People invariably spot Argentines anywhere as they like to use the insult pelotudo (big balled) which is a slightly stronger version of estúpido. In the last few weeks this word is now part of the RAE!

 pelotudo, da - Diccionario de la lengua española

pelotudo

1. adj. malson. coloq. Arg. y Chile. Dicho de una persona: Que tiene pocas luces o que obra como si las tuviera. U. t. c. s. U. t. c. insulto.

This has a nice translation :Said of a person with few lights upstairs or who acts as if he had them.