Alpargata: a canvas shoe with a rope sole; espadrille (Spanish)
Au pied du mur: to have one’s back up to the wall (French)
Bonne à tout faire: “general help;” a servant (French)
Bozhe moy!: my God, my goodness! (Russian)
Culebras: snakes (Spanish)
Foco rojo: red light; brothel (Spanish)
“Gedenk, Augie, wenn ich bin todt.”: “Remember, Augie, when I am dead.” (Yiddish/German)
Inter pares: among their peers; among those of equal rank (Latin)
Integer vitae: innocent (Latin)
Jehudim: Jewish people (Hebrew)
Knacker: person who buys and slaughters old livestock to sell the meat and hide (British slang)
Lacrimae rerum: “the tears for things,” from Virgil’s The Aeneid (Latin)
Mein kind!: my child! (German)
Memento mori: remember that you must die (Latin)
Meshuggah: crazy (Yiddish)
Nolens volens: willing or not; willy-nilly (Latin)
Nota bene: abbreviated as N.B., meaning to take note or observe carefully (Italian)
Rebozo: long scarf for covering the head and shoulders or as a sling for holding a baby, worn by Mexican women (Spanish)
Säufer: boozer or drunkard (German)
Sursum corda: lift up your hearts (Latin)
Wehtig: melancholy, wistful, nostalgic (German)
Zócalo: main square, plaza (Spanish)
Sources
- Branyon, Richard A. Latin Phrases & Quotations. Hippocrene Books, 1997.
- Gedenk Movement.
- “Integer vitae.” Dictionary.com.
- Italian-English Dictionary = Dizionario Inglese-Italiano. Berlitz, 1994.
- “Knacker.” The Free Dictionary.
- “Lacrimae rerum.” Merriam-Webster.
- “Memento mori.” Dictionary.com.
- Oxford Learner’s German Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Pons Collins Grosswörterbuch für Experten und Universität: Deutsch-Englisch, Englisch-Deutsch. Klett; Collins, 1999.
- “Rebozo.” The Free Dictionary.
- Reverso Online Dictionary French-English/English-French.
- Le Robert & Collins Senior. HarperCollins; Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2005.
- SpanishDict.
- Webster’s Online Dictionary.
- “What Is ‘Jewish?’ 1. Is It a Religion?.” Israel News.
- Wheeler, Marcus and Boris Unbegaun, editors. The Oxford Russian Dictionary/English-Russian. Oxford University Press, 1995.
- Yiddish Dictionary. 2008.
Content last updated: October 31, 2011
