Rosa 'Boscobel' 14 August 2025

Speaking more than one language is something I enjoy as I like to contrast and compare words in English and in Spanish. What makes it even more interesting is if you learned your English and Spanish in Buenos Aires, then Spanish in Mexico, and from there to English in Texas and finally to English here in my Vancouver.

In Canada we call our spouses “my better half”. In Mexico there is some nasty humour involved as a spouse is “mi pior es nada” which translates to “my worse is nothing”.

Today is a Thursday ( I am writing this blog to fill a hole for yesterday) with no activity for me except to walk my male cat niño around the block (this I did) and deal with household menialities like vacuuming and ordering my pantry.

Once all that was out of the way I walked around my garden and noticed a lovely English Rose, Rosa ‘Bosobel’. It is brilliantly orange. What then could I write since I had already done that before?

The colour orange in Spanish is anaranjado and the word for orange (the fruit) is naranja. I immediately went to my online dictionary of the Spanish Language (RAE – Real Academia Española). This is what I found:

Del ár. hisp. naranǧa, este del ár. nāranǧ, este del persa nārang, y este del sánscr. nāraṅga.

The word naranja (and there seems to be a connection in pronunciation with the English orange) comes from the Arab/Spaniards and from there to Arabic, Persian and ultimately sanskrit.

But there was a surprise for me! A "media naranja" is one’s better spouse. It can also be a friend you consider to be better than you.