“As many of you know by now, I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I still live here in these latitudes, 15 blocks away from the clinic where I was born, and 15 blocks away from the house I lived as a child. And while because of my job (and most of my Camino friends!) I speak a lot in English, my first language is Spanish. So today, let me share something about this language…
“Recordar” means “Remember”.
In Spanish, words come from Latin, and in Latin, it would be “Re-Cordis”… Re: would be to do it it again; and “Cordis” leads to “Corazón” (which in English is “Heart”)
Eduardo Galeano, who was a very powerful Uruguyian writer, said that Caetano Veloso (who is a very special Brazilian singer) said that the verb “RECORDAR” coming from the Latin “re-cordis”, means “to pass through the heart one more time” …
And although neurology and biology say that to remember is something else, I feel more comfortable with what Caetano Veloso says. And let me tell you why:
J. is a short, verborragic Spanish man, in his 60ies that I met in the Camino in 2011. That day we met was a very intense day of walking, with physical pain as my back was acking, my soul was experiencing a tsunami, and I was also brooding over anger. I got to Portomarin with the last bit of energy in my body, and was ready for a “Nestea” full of sugar and put my legs up… but when I passed by the bar, J. was there and he invited me to sit with him. I did that and after 5 minutes, in his Spanish with a cadence from Valencia, my whole body found the energy and the peace it didnt have. And then, the conversation just flown (as we know it happens!) and J. who knew me only for having a Camino-side conversation, said a couple of things that touched my heart in the most amazing way.
A few days ago, almost 9 years later, I received a call from this other continent, it was J. Talking with him was going back to that day, to that section of the Camino, to that bar, to that table, to that conversation, to those words … and to talk to him a few days ago was more of that conversation that happened in 2011 and it was something else too, because we met in Valencia in 2014, and I got to meet his wife and his sister and some of his friends. A few days ago when he called, he said to me: “I was thinking of you … when I came back I told my wife and she said that our daughter had decided the name of my new granddaughter who is still in the womb… and guess what? She will be called “Cristina”… and he went on and said: “I always remember what you told me that afternoon in Portomarin… ”
… transcend, to be in the thoughts of other people, to be remembered for what was shared, …
… to pass through the hearts of others one more time, if possible with some frequency … that’s another big part of this journey…
Love in Spanish,
Cris“
Great post!!
Thank you, Ryck! Hope you and the family are getting used to the other Washington!
Abrazos!!
Cris
Thank you for that Spanish lesson! I agree and I am thrilled to know the heart connection with the word ‘recordar’ as it just makes sense. I have a few Js in my life too, mostly from the Camino in Spain, but some from the rest of the journey.
I am smiling here in our new living room just thinking of all those hearts-again.
Gracias Ronaldo! Always happy as reassuring to hear that our stories are common and shared…
Buen Camino!
Abrazos a tus Js también!
Cris
Brasil, and limited to Rio de Janiro,is the only South America country I’ve been to and hardly anyone spoke English.Spanish would be handy but even that isn’t mutually intelligible with Portuguese.i could if I studied it read things as Portuguese and English are both Indo European languages although different branches Romance and Germanic but thanks to the Norman invasion of England in 1066 English became heavily influenced by French making it the closest Germanic language to the Romance languages.people speaking in Rio was another matter and I just had to resort to pointing to things or hand gestures which can work surprisingly well.
Hi Kevan,
Body language is always life saving! With a hand and a smile, we can get to anywhere and anything!!
Indeed Spanish and Portuguese are really really close languages. It is not that you speak one, you can speak the other, but definitely they are close. In fact both Argentinian and Brazilian believe we can speak the other’s language, and we have a name for it “Portuñol”… the most difficult is the pronunciation because reading, you somehow can “get it”.
I speak Portuguese too since I am a teenager, and in my late twenties, I lived in São Paulo for a year or so and was able to improve my accent… it is a language I love because it has “samba” on it! 💕 I speak some Italian too… and funny enough, I cannot speak it well because it is a “loud” language and I am too “soft” for it!!!
Hugs to you!
Cris
To pass through the heart of another…. thank you.
Isn’t it a lovely image?
Hugs to you, Michelle!
Cris
Language is a wonderful mystery, born in places, to peoples whose usage styles, and evolves it over time. Knowing the origins of words, especially being able to share them across cultures, creates a marvelous bridge that expands not only meaning and understanding, but possibilities. Cris, this post delighted me no end. I love the notion that to remember (recordar) allows me to pass through the my heart once more. Rather than seeing a replay in my mind, there is an emotional dimension that your translation invites me to add, something deeper than “pleasant,” or “painful,” something fuller and more nuanced. Gracias mi amiga. (How I wish I could speak more.)
Querida Amiga,
Gracias! Gracias! Gracias! <3
To imagine that when we think about the other, the other is passing through our heart and not our minds is the way that describes the most how I feel when I am bringing back my memories… We have talked about this already, but to me, that is the reason why they can make us love and enjoy, and also hurt us… But to me, the best thing of all is that I have this choice of making memories full of love, compassion, arms that hold me and embrace me, and "re-cordar" them when being in the world feels painful, or lonely…
Gracias por "re-cordar-me"
Abrazos,
Cris
Italian is more removed from Spanish and, strangely,is closer to Romanian and some hold that Romanian is actually closer to Latin than modern Italian? Moldovan is virtually a dialect of Romanian so close that they are much closer than say Dutch and Afrikaans.i believe that the closest language to English is Friesian an almost extinct language spoken in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and is the bridging language between English and Dutch but because of the high French input,over 35 percent of English words, the two are no longer mutually intelligible but roughly speaking the sentence structure would be the same. German,as spoken today,is too harsh and gutural to understand much but I think that the Platendeutche, again almost extinct, might have been mutually intelligible with Old English?
Wow, Kevan! You are now our “Living Wikipedia”!!!
Querida Cris,
Thank You for a most valuable lesson. To walk in another’s shoe can be be very enlightening but share another’s heart is one small step to unimagined wonders. Gracias for this wonderful language lesson.
Fuertes abrazos,
Arnaud
Querido amigo,
Thank you for coming to visit Phil’s blog!!!
The most rewarding things of having met you has not been all I have learnt from you in the medical field (which is a LOT), but this friendship we have built that allows us this frequent “passing through” each other’s heart!
Muchos abrazos!
Cris