Quick question: How can "bajo" mean "short" and "under"?
I'm usually pretty good at just accepting and understanding the connections between two or more distinct meanings of a word in Spanish (e.g "Ya" meaning soon, now, or already, depending on the context) but it strikes me as really weird that "bajo" can mean:
- Short in stature
- placed low down
- Undergo something, e.g pone al cuerpo bajo estrés
- Underneath something (debajo is also used)
Understanding the etymology would help, I think. Sorry if this is an annoying question, Just want to hear some thoughts on it
I don't know about etymology etc but a short plant can fit under the table
If you take a picture down from a wall it can undergo the operation of changing frames
When you are under anaesthesia you go down into more or less sleep
Sometimes when I fall asleep I just crash down on the sofa
Have you looked up the etymology for it? According to RAE it comes from the latin bassius which meant short and fat.
I’m not sure on your question but there are even crazier examples than yours. My favorite one is prestar which means both to lend and to borrow. Also huesped it means both host and guest.
Prestar is definitely gonna get confusing, I didn't know that one. Huesped I can understand
Not as confusing as you’d think. Once your fluency gets high enough you can usually tell which definition is being used from the context.