Thursday, February 5, 2015

Sanskrit + Spanish = confusing


I was looking through my photos for the best ones for this post. I think these are a nice combination.

I am in the process of becoming a yoga teacher. This has involved learning many Sanskrit terms, which, as a linguist, I LOVE. Sometimes, I get confused because some of the words look the same as Spanish, but mean very different things. Personally, I think there could be some hilarious confusions... What do you think?

Examples:
Ama
  • Spanish: he/ she/ it loves; love (command)
  • Sanskrit: toxic sludge inside your body
Tapas
  • Spanish: lids or covers; delicious small portions of food in Spain
  • Sanskrit: Can mean many things but most commonly used to talk about internal heat, fuel, fire
Tejas
  • Spanish: Texas (the state)
  • Sanskrit: Kind of complicated, but refers to inspiration, vitality and health, vision.
Hasta
  • Spanish: until
  • Sanskrit: hand
Ojas
  • Spanish: this is not really a word in Spanish, but it is similar to ojos (eyes) and ojala (to wish/ hope for)
  • Sanskrit: your internal reservoir of energy
Banda
  • Spanish: band or gang
  • Sanskrit: to lock or close off. Technically it's spelled bandha, but you pronounce it the same

3 comments:

  1. Ojas must mean "to hope for eyes".

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  2. Obviously, my favorite was ama, maybe because when I love someone or something so much (too much) it becomes like a toxic sludge inside my body...which is not how love is supposed to work ever.
    And any loose connection between hope and a reservoir of energy is ok in my book :)

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