A couple of new words

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Chris

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Generally I hear talk about 'tormenta' no fuerte or muy fuerte or so on, but first time I heard baguada - this is a new one for me.
 
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Chirimoya

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I thought it was 'vaguada', meaning depression (meteorologically speaking). The Spanish Wiki page has a strange theory about its etymology:

...la palabra Vaguada puede provenir de la transmutaci?n de la expresi?n en Ingl?s "Bad Weather" que siginifica mal tiempo y pronunciada en Ingl?s brit?nico ser?a algo como "Ba_Guadar".
 

Squat

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they usually use "vaguada" for the cold fronts in the winter... The right term would be "frente frio", but they keep on using "vaguada"...
 

Chris

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Oh, no I get it ... vaguada, not baguada! (Pays to take things not too literary around here) ;) And if it is used for cold fronts, no wonder I have not noticed the word :laugh:
 

Chirimoya

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Vaguada tropical (which was the expression Chip started the thread with) means tropical depression, that's the context I'm familiar with.
 

Chris

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It is strangely enough not frequently used in the formal weather information. I quickly looked through 10 or so of the formal reports and found one reference only. Whereas there are many references to [FONT=&quot]DEPRESI?N TROPICAL.

Perhaps a difference in formal to general usage? Perhaps a difference between a tropical wave and a tropical depression?

[/FONT]
 

Baracutay

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Here I go again

I heard baguada for the first time from my mother in-law who stated that in Puerto Rico when a baguada (storm) is coming one can readily tell by the way the the birds are flying (in order to escape harm I suppose)
Later that day I called my unlce, who has lived in our campo in Jaibon/Laguna Salada all his life, and asked him if he knew what the word meant. He replied " Una baguada es una tormenta que vien del mar a monte adentro". It occured to me at that point that since the Taino word for Ocean is Bagua, then surely a storm that originates at sea and is called a Baguada must have an indigenous origin. IT would be interesting to search for the word Baguada or Vaguada in a Spanish dictionary that is pre 1492.
Your thoughts?
Baracutei
 
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Chip

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I heard baguada for the first time from my mother in-law who stated that in Puerto Rico when a baguada (storm) is coming one can readily tell by the way the the birds are flying (in order to escape harm I suppose)
Later that day I called my unlce, who has lived in our campo in Jaibon/Laguna Salada all his life, and asked him if he knew what the word meant. He replied " Una baguada es una tormenta que vien del mar a monte adentro". It occured to me at that point that since the Taino word for Ocean is Bagua, then surely a storm that originates at sea and is called a Baguada must have an indigenous origin. IT would be interesting to search for the word Baguada or Vaguada in a Spanish dictionary that is pre 1492.
Your thoughts?
Baracutei

Primo, I was hoping to see if you thought this word had Taino roots.
 

Norma Rosa

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Vaguada

Es un sistema de frente fr?o que se desplaza desde el hemisferio norte, pasando por el Oc?ano Atl?ntico, entrando a la cuenca del Caribe, inestabilizando a la atm?sfera, lo que provoca algunos n?cleos de nubosidad estratiforme y a su vez precipitaciones. Y en el caso de nuestro pa?s podr?a activar la Zona de convergencia Intertorpical (ITCZ), originado fuertes lluvias. (From www.Immeteoven.org)

According to this definition, a vaguada is a cold front that originates in the Northern Hemisphere, passes through the Atlantic Ocean and then enters the Caribbean Sea.

A 2nd. definition
Vaguada: L?nea que se?ala el fondo de un valle. Las aguas corrientes naturales siguen la vaguada de los valles. (Peque?o Larousse)

Norma
 
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Baracutay

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Vaguada/Baguada

Norma Rosa's post certainly holds water (no pun intended). However, I believe the definition of the word and the word itself has an American orgin. The word Vaguada or Baguada does not appear in most Spanish dictionaries. One easily look it up in the Real Academia Espanol Real Academia Espa?ola, but you will only find the definition of the word and not its origin.
Yocahu Bagua Maracoti is the name of the creator in Classic Taino Language. The translation is: Father of the Yuca and Ocean without a male ancestor. Researching words is a tricky affair. I still would like to find an old Spanish dictionary to see if the word and its description appears in pre-contact Spanish. Its possible that it does.
That said, I remember a debate I had in junior high school with my music teacher over the word Maraca. I explained to her that the word is Taino. She pulled out an encyclopedia which stated " Merengue music is a wonderful blend of African drums and the Spanish Maraca"! And that was that!
Obviously even the editors of the encyclopedia never bothered to research the word. If they had they would have "discovered that the word and instrument Maraca is not Spanish in origin but in fact Taino.
 
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