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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Monday October 6, 2008
vela, noun:
candle; sail; sailing
As with desvelar, a recent Spanish Word of the Day, una vela has two meanings which seem to have no connection. On the one hand it means a candle:
Encendimos una vela.
We lit a candle.
On the other, it refers to a sail.
con todas las velas nuevas al viento
with all the new sails fluttering in the wind
Vela can also refer to sailing:
un barco de vela
a sailing ship
The reason for this great difference in meaning is that there are two versions of the word vela, each one derived from a very different root.
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