Originally posted by Serkevan And here our most authoritative dictionary (Diccionario de la Lengua Española, 23rd edition, published by the 23 Language Academies for the different Spanish-speaking countries as a joint effort) has only about 93000 words... in a compact 3000 pages
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A professor of Spanish from the University of Barcelona was enjoying his stay in Scotland. Imagine his delight while visiting the Outer Hebrides when he discovered his neighbour in the next cottage was Professor of Gaelic at Aberdeen University, and Mateo wasted no time getting to know him and to compare notes on each other's language.
"There iss a word in Spanish I have often heard of," said Hector after a long discussion, "and I would like you to explain its meaning and usage to me. It iss the word
mañana."
Mateo gladly explained its literal meaning of "tomorrow" and how it was used in postponing for the next day any task which didn't have to be done today, then asked "Is there a word in the Gaelic which is equivalent to mañana?"
"Och, no," Hector slowly replied, "nothing so hasty."