What happened with the diaeresis?

Diaeresis: "The cream" of the Spanish language

 

Multilingualism (el multilingüismo) is very important nowadays. In Spanish, to be multiligual, trilingual, bilingual and even monolingual, (plurilingüe, trilingüe, bilingüe, monolingüe) you need a diaeresis. If you did not know it, then you need to find out (averígüelo). Diaeresis is the name for the two dots that are placed over a vowel (ä ë ï ö ü – Ä Ë Ï Ö Ü) to indicate that it is sounded separately. In Spanish, this must be placed above the vowel ü in the syllable güe and güi to specify that the vowel ü must be pronounced. 

These are elements from Spanish linguistics (lingüistica) that come from ancient times, before the stork (la cigüeña) was assigned the job of delivering babies. Until a few years ago, writing with an impeccable spelling was essential, however technology has arrived and is here to stay, and young people have developed new writing habits. Due to this, writing accurately including accent marks and umlauts has almost taken a backseat.

Language lovers would say that it is a shame (una vergüenza) that this happens, and they may be horrified to see so many spelling errors on social media (se santigüen). It is possible that those who are most passionate about the good use of the language (halagüenos) will buy an ointment (ungüento) that will reduce (mengüe) the pain in their eyes that they may suffer when reading a text with spelling errors, in this case omitting the diaeresis.

Thinking back a little, in primary school, words with a diaeresis were always included in spelling tests. By the time one reached their high school, one was already an expert at putting the two dots in the ü in words that required it, without any ambiguity (ambigüedad). 

The Royal Spanish Academy explains that the diaeresis is also called “crema” which means cream, and this is why this article is dedicated to it, because one could say that the diaeresis it is “the cream” of the Spanish language.

Professor Cleóbulo Sabogal from The Colombian Language Academy has explained to me that the name “crema” as a synonym for diaeresis, comes from the Greek τρῆμα trêma. It was perhaps confused with “crema” that means “agujero” (hole), “puntos marcados en un dado” (dots marked on a dice) derived from titrân that means “perforar “(to pierce.)

Hernandez (2017) in an article for BBC Mundo points out that the word diaeresis comes from Latin (diaerĕsis). According to this source, the diaresis has always existed, and the diaresis’s use in Spanish appears in writing dating back to the Renaissance. At that time some words, especially those derived from Latin that had the combination QU followed by the vowel e or the vowel i, needed the diaresis, for instance in freqüencia, cinqüenta, aqüeducto, eloqüencia, freqüente, qüidado, qüerpo, seqüencia, among others.  This was to indicate that the vowel ü had to be pronounced.

The diaeresis with the meaning of spelling sign appeared for the first time in the Dictionary of the Academy in 1780, when it was also marked in the syllables qüe and and qüo. However, the Royal Spanish Academy in 1815 in its eighth spelling edition decided that the letter Q, which was always used in the sequence QU, could only be used together with the vowels e and i, thus forming QUE and QUI. Furthermore, it was established that the other words that include the combination QU should be written with CU, thus, the word when “quando” should be written “cuando” and the number “quatro” would be “cuatro” as it is known today. This is also seen in acueducto, elocuencia, frecuente, cuerpo, etc. In this way the use of the diaeresis was reduced.

Despite these changes in the use of the diaeresis, one could say that its use is unique. The two dots are written above the vowel as giving it a sense of elitism that is exclusive to a limited group of words. Like any spelling sign, the diaeresis has rules that must be followed in order to use it correctly and appropriately.

As stated above, since 1815 it was established that the diaeresis always goes on the vowel ü to indicate that it should be pronounced. In written language it must only be used in güe and güi such as: pingüino and lingüistica, and not in güo or güa like in antiguo or tregua. Placing the diaeresis in guo and gua is not justified because the u is always pronounced; unlike the phonic groups güe and güi, which have a u, which, although appears in writing, is not stated orally, as in guerra or guitarra.

It is important to point out that, when required, the diaeresis in the vowel üÜ must be added regardless of whether the word is written in uppercase Ü or lowercase ü.

It is worth noting that the diaeresis can be versatile and very handy. Poets use it to lengthen the number of syllables in their verses, in order to achieve the effects on the rhythm and melody of a poem. In the case of poetic texts, there is an exception to the rules previously explained and the diaeresis can be placed in any vowel.

The correct use of the diaeresis allows students to enrich the use of the Spanish language and certainly helps them to improve their pronunciation. Let’s then look at a group of words that have a diaeresis.

agüero	omen	argüir	argue
agüerar	to predict or announce misfortunes	averigüe	he, she, you formal find out
aconcagüino	from Aconcagua	adagüe	he, she waters the cattle
agüe	he/she spoils, he/she dilutes	agüen	they spoil, they dilute
agüera	Province in Burgos, ditch made to route rainwater to the fields	agüeran	they predict or announce misfortunes
agües	you informal spoils, you informal dilutes	agüista	waterman
agüita	water	agüitarse	to feel sad
alengües	you informal find out, you informal rent a field	ambigüedad	ambiguity
amortigüe	he, she and you formal mitigates	angüejo	short person, Abbot’s ear
antigüedad	antique	antigüeno	from Antigua in Guatemala
apacigüe	he, she, you formal appease	apacigües	you informal appease
argüitivo	argumentative	atestigüe	he, she, you formal witness
avergüenza	he, she embarrasses	bilingüe	bilingual
bilingüismo	bilingualism	Camagüey	name of a province in Cuba
camagüeyano	from Camaguey in Cuba	camagüira	name of a wild tree
cangüeso	name of a marine fish	changüite	farm where banana is cultivated
changüi	a disappointment	chigüil	typical food from Ecuador
chigüin	small child, infant	chiquigüite	wicker basket
cigüeña	stork	cigüeñal	crankshaft
contigüidad	closeness	degüello	slaughter
desagüe	drain	deslengüen	they cut the tongue
enjuagüe	rinse	exagüe	bloodless
exigüidad	shortage	fragüe	he, she forges
fragües	you informal forge	fragüin	a small stream
güelfo	defenders of the popes during the Middle Ages	güero	blond
güey	dude	güimba	marble game, person disturbed by drunkenness
güipil	traditional garment worn by indigenous women from central America and Mexico	güirila	sweet tortilla made from white maize
güiro	person who is in childhood, kid	güisqui	whiskey
güio	a constrictor snake	Itagüi	name of a town
halagüeno	flattering	jagüeles	artificial well
lengüeta	tongue	lengüetazo	lick
lengüicorto	short tongue, timid, reserve	lengüilargo	long tongue, loquacious, chatty
lingüista	linguist	lingüística	linguistics
mengüe	It declines, wanes	monolingüe	monolingual
multilingüismo	multilingualism	nicaragüense	Nicaraguan
paragüero	umbrella stand	paragüitas	(small) umbrella
pedigüeno	male beggar	pedigüeña	female beggar
pingüinera	penguin colony	pingüino	penguin
piragüista	canoeist	plurilingüe	multilingual
plurilingüismo	multilingualism	sangüesos	Raspberry tree
santigüe	he, she, you formal bless	santigüen	they bless
saragüeta	human settlement in Spain	saragüete	Evening gathering
sigüenza	name of a city, following	sinvergüenza	scoundrel
sinvergüencería	scoundrelism	trilingüe	trilingual
ungüento	ointment	vergüenza	shame
yegüita	mare	zarigüeya	opossum

 The website www.Ejemplode.com in their article “Ejemplos de versos con diéresis” include the following ones with poetry.

No sólo en plata o vïola troncada Cuanto más día de jü-icio se halle By Góngora	La del que hu-ye_el mun-da-nal rü-i-do By Fray Luis de León
El dulce murmurar deste rüido, el mover de los árboles al viento El süave susurro Con un manso rü-ido de agua corriente y clara...	"...no las escaramuzas peligrosas ni aquel fiero rü-ido contrahecho de aquel que para Júpiter fue hecho por manos de Vulcano artificiosas..."
By Garcilaso Inca de la Vega

Source: https://www.ejemplode.com/41-literatura/2508-ejemplo_de_versos_con_dieresis.html#ixzz8iQ788OQ4

In addition to Spanish, it is worth mentioning that the diaeresis can be found in other languages such as French, German, Danish, Catalan, Welsh, Dutch, Occitan, Galician, Luxembourish and English.

Let’s hope that the diaeresis will continue to be used. It would be a shame to see it disappear from the Spanish language due to the lack of use.  

 Bibliography

• Academia Colombiana de la Lengua. (n.d.). Consultas. Available at: https://www.academiacolombianadelalengua.co/consultas/

  ·       Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE). (n.d.). Academia Colombiana de la Lengua. Available at: https://www.asale.org/academias/academia-colombiana-de-la-lengua

  ·       Babbel. (n.d.). The history of the umlaut and the diaeresis (and how to pronounce them). Available at: https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-history-of-the-umlaut-and-the-diaeresis-and-how-to-pronounce-them

  ·       BBC Mundo. (2017). El curioso caso de la diéresis, la tilde que no se sabe si va o viene. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-38691333

  ·       Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (DPD). (n.d.). Diéresis. Available at: https://www.rae.es/dpd/di%C3%A9resis

  ·       Diccionario de la lengua española (RAE). (n.d.). La diéresis. Available at: https://www.rae.es/ortograf%C3%ADa/la-di%C3%A9resis

  ·       EjemploDe. (n.d.). Ejemplo de versos con diéresis. Available at: https://www.ejemplode.com/41-literatura/2508-ejemplo_de_versos_con_dieresis.html#google_vignette

  ·       English Language Thoughts. (2017). A touch of diaeresis. Available at: https://englishlanguagethoughts.com/2017/10/30/a-touch-of-diaeresis/

  ·       Lawless French. (n.d.). Dieresis in French. Available at: https://www.lawlessfrench.com/pronunciation/dieresis/

  ·       Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Mary Norris & the diaeresis. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/mary-norris-diaeresis

  ·       Mundo Primaria. (n.d.). Palabras con diéresis. Available at: https://www.mundoprimaria.com/palabras/palabras-con-dieresis

  ·       Sussex University. (n.d.). Diacritics and punctuation. Available at: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/misc/diacritics

  ·       UNIBETAS. (n.d.). Diéresis. Available at: https://unibetas.com/dieresis/

  ·       Universidad de Piura. (n.d.). Diéresis: solo en “gue” y “gui”. Available at: https://www.udep.edu.pe/castellanoactual/dieresis-solo-en-gue-y-gui/