Afro-Cuban vocabulary-
That's an amazing salsa isn't by the late H?ctor Lavoe? It's one of many remakes of his songs by Marc Anthony who paid tribute to the legendary artist in the film
El cantante.
YouTube - marc anthony - aguanile
The word and meaning of
aguanile is a perfect example of how language and culture intertwine. To get to the root of the word one would have to know its origin. The lyrics of the song indicate that the meaning is associated with religion and then if one is familiar with salsa (originating from
el son cubano) then one would know that its origin is Cuban.
The Cuban vernacular has plenty of words of West African origin due to the influence of their popular religion
santer?a. Many words in Caribbean Spanish have West African influence namely in the names of food and music. However, the Cuban vernacular takes it to a whole different level because of
santer?a which is also manifested via Cuban music- salsa, son, timba etc. This aspect of the Cuban vernacular I find absolutely fascinating which always distinguishes a part of Spanish spoken in Cuba from the DR and PR which have more in common linguistically while at the same time Spanish spoken in the three island nations are similar and very comparable.
I happen to have a good source which separates Cubanisms from religious vocabulary and to note the spelling of
'aguanile' is adapted meaning altered to accommodate Spanish or it was not known to whoever wrote the song (possibly H.Lavoe who was Puerto Rican) how the word is spelt due to its origin. However, the correct spelling is aggu?n- ile. The source I have does not have
-ile listed but I have found other references that indicate it means house.
Aguanile means 'spiritual cleansing' and that's what the song is about.
Definition:
Aggu?n:.- Limpieza, exorcismo. Tambi?n plato.
-Marianopolita.