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[clhw AT infoave.net (clhw)]

Interesting word study, James.
I'm saving it for my Spanish-English list which includes several
professional translators and interpreters.

The people from Argentina and Spain on the list are really thrown for a
loop by many common words in Mexico. The pre-Tolteca influence still
lingers in Mexico in language as well as facial bone structure.

Recently, several members of the list collaborated in compiling a list of
regional names for various foods. We realized pretty quickly that some
foods grow in some countries and are totally unknown in others. Only
photographs helped to identify various fruits, squashes, and melons,
because they are not in the international dictionaries.
Lynn

>While the word 'haba' isn't in common use, the word 'habena' (little bean)
>is.  The words 'haba' and 'habena' refer to all types of beans, not just
>favas.
>Many Latin words that begin with 'f' changed to 'h' in Spanish while
>remaining 'f' in the other Romance languages.
>
>faba   =      fava        =        haba
>facere =     facer       =        hacer
>folia    =     foil          =        hoja
>ferum  =     ferro       =         hiero
>
>etc.
>
>The word 'frijole' is from the genus name of new world beans 'phaseolus'
>which is derived from the Greek word 'phaselos' (chickpea).  It became
>'faseolus' in Latin, then 'fesol' in early Spanish.  'Fesol' became
>'fresol' then
>'frijol'.
>
>I would have thought that 'frijole' was just yet another Nahuatl word ending
>in 'tl' that the Spanish couldn't pronounce.   But such is not the case.
>   </HTML>