A discussion about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI while fixing dinner at home serves as a backdrop for this humorous little story about the Spanish language translation of the word potato

“No hay papa,” which translated from Spanish into English means “there is no potato,” announced Alessia Leather’s husband Greg in his broken Spanish, just as she was about to prepare one of his favorite Peruvian dishes.

“It is not important. I do not need it,” Alessia replied, to her husband’s surprise.

“It? Did you say IT? Really? I thought you were a Catholic,” Greg said in disbelief.

“I do not need my religion to cook today. What are you talking about?” said Alessia.

“Honey, la papa, the pope, has just resigned,” said Greg, mixing the two languages.

That’s when it became clear to Alessia that neither a Bible nor a cookbook would help their situation. What was required was a dictionary and a short lesson in Spanish language translation and grammar.

The Spanish word “papa” has two meanings depending on the gender. It denotes the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church in its masculine form, “el papa” (the pope). However is can also refer to that

starchy edible plant tuber which is commonly cooked and eaten as a vegetable, when used as a feminine noun, “la papa” (the potato).

Alessia Leathers explains that the words “la papa” and “el papa” actually have different origins. “Papa” as in “pope” comes from the Latin “papas,” which means “father,” while the vegetable comes from the Quechua “papa,” a common word used during the time of the Incas.

So you might want to think about this the next time you’re chomping down on a tasty spud.

Alessia Leathers is a Peruvian journalist and a published writer. She contributes regularly to news-press.com.

By Alex Dupont
Marketing Communications Specialist
Language Translation Inc.

See Also

• Translation is the act of rewriting a document, changing it into another language.
  Different from Spanish, English simplified some rules centuries ago by getting rid of the grammatical gender.
• Found in Translation: Pope provides language lesson
  The Royal Spanish Academy explains that papa as in pope comes from the Latin papas, which originally means father.