The herald., 1893-09-03
SPANISH SPEECH AND NAMES,
Features of Their Use in South
ern California.
Saints Days and Their Effect on Local
Terms.
Juan CabriIIo Baptized Most of the
Places = Mixture of Dialects.
Meaning of Some of
the Terms.

OJhi, COutfiuutoc WIG AvAio"AHe
article:
It must strike even the careless OBJ.
server that in the naming OF places the
Spanish pioneers in America were In
tensely religious, as their course from
Brazil to Alaska can be traced by the
sanity names they bestowed on theil
discoveries. This habit was very natural
to missionaries, but it seems singular
in rough mariners and wild adventures.
A reference. hoSever, to certain GUS
tom among Spanish families will give
the key to this Spanish religious feIvor,
and dispel much OF ones admiration for
the piety of the Spanish explorers.
Among Spaniards, French and Itsl-
isns, every day in the year has its par
ticular saint, and when child is born
to a Mexican or Spanish family the
almanac is consulted and the infant
takes the name of the saint of it's
birthday, and this saint 10 to be the
child's patron and guardian through
life. The name may be the longest
and uglisst in the calendar, but there
is no help for 1t, and the child must
shoulder and lug it from the cradle
to the grave. Now this family custom
of consulting the sanity calendar ex-
tends to the naming OF places. On
the day when Juan Cabrillo sighted
Lower California he ran his finger
down the almanac and found Saint
Lucas opposite the date, and he
named the cape accordingly. Farther
north another cape was seen on the
feast day of the Virgin, and Cape Con-
cepcion was named. San Sacramento
was reached or settled on the feast Of
the Holy Sacrament, or Corpus Christi,
and was 80 called. 1t would appear that
in those days an almanac was ss essen
tial as q mariners compass. San Diego,
San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara,
names bestowed by missionaries, came
also from the almanac on the day of
their settlement; and here it will be
seen that no preference of nationality
influenced the choice, for San Buena-
Bonneventure) and down the coast San
Luis Rey was King Luis the Ninth of
France, both excellent men and we'll
worthy OF their sanity title.
Santa Barbara was an Italian saint in
the early days of the church, who pre-
ferred msrtyrdom to loss of honor and
faith. She is the patroness of the
French artillery, and on her feast days
those regiments in France adorn their
barracks with evergreens and flowers.
Why she should be the warriors patron.
ess the writer could never discover.
The custom OF naming q child after
the saint Of its birthday has it's draw.
backs. As in Ireland, where
Confession and strife came, and some people
when Saint Patrick at midnight he first saw
the day."
and they could not agree on the date tc
feast him. So in q Spanish family the
child may be o~fast or the clock toe
slow, and doubt will arise aa to which
saint it belongs. In such case OF mid
night perplexity the child gets two
names, as Juan Nepunoeeno, Jose An
tonic, Maria Reiugio, and the like, thi
impartiality appeasing the fval saints
and securing double guardian for thu
youngster. 1t must be owned that sine,
the downfall OF the church in 1858 il
Mexico. the rule of naming children
after saints is not so strictly followed a.
it used to be in that country. The lib
eral party who govern there have ever
carried reform go far as to change tht
sanity names of towns and streets, sub
stituting therefore the names of patrio
heroes, Mexicans and Aztecs.
Referring to California names, few
know the full original name of Los An
geles. Time was not money when tn,
city OF the angels was called GEL Pueblo
de la Sonora Reina de los Angeles, ,
which means "the town OF the Lady
Queen of the Angels" The man wht
invented and first wrote out this it'll,
must have had long vacation to re
cuperate.
Will there ever be a dialect, q mix
ture of English and Spanish, along thu
Mexican frontier? In Western Texas
number o. Spanish words are used cur
rently by Americans, but generally mis-
pronounced. The Spanish word cuarta
a small riding whip quarter of vars
long. is called quirt; reata is pro
nounced lariette, confounding the article
with the noun; caballada, band o.
horses, is called cavayard; and vaquero
herder, is turned into buckayro; anc
all these words and many more are sup
posed to be pure English by the learned
cowboy. Frontier Mexicans seldom en-
graft an English word in their Spanish
There is tendency now all over Cali
fornia, but more particularly in tn,
south, to bestow Spanish names or
homes and localities, and some ludicrou
mistakes are made, and Ojai vale,
is not exempt from errors in this re
spect. Who discovered that the wore
"Ojai" means nest? The word is In
dian, Specification unknown. Topt
Topa, Mstilija, Saticoy, Piru. and likel,
Camulos, are sll Indian. Cesped an(
not Cespe ia Spanish for sod or turf
Los Posss should be Los Poses, mascu
line, meaning water holes. The wore
"Ojai" should be pronounced Ohah'ee
with the accent strong on "hah,s' glid
ing softly over the double "e," and Hue
meme has the pronunciation Of Waynay
may with the accent on the may"
Many are under the impression ths
the Spanish spoken in California Ia
kind of broken dialect. This is an error
In the first place the Spanish of thi
continent is uniform from California t,
Brazil, the difference ia accent being n,
greater than the drawl of Georgia is tC
the Yankee twang of Maine. This uni
formity is not found in Spain, wher,
the Biscayan can scarcely understant
the Andalusisn, and still less the Csta
Ian. The Castilian speech OF Centra
Spain is the standard, and the Spanish
of this continent differs principally il
giving the same pronunciation to ~
and "s."
Thus, when Castilian says, voy |,
caza, he means he is going to hunt; anc
when he says voy la casa, we under