Putting Probar to the Test
Tuesday April 29, 2008
As those familiar with the plays of Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible know, the English verb "prove" at one time often meant "to test," not just "to show or demonstrate." The same is still true of the Spanish cognate probar, which comes from the same Latin verb. (Remember that in Spanish the b and v are closely related, and in fact are pronounced identically.)
Like almost any word you learn in Spanish (or any other foreign language), how you say it in English will depend on context. It may not seem logical that a verb that means "to prove" can also be translated as "to taste," but it's the case. When probar refers to the "testing" of food, probar can be translated as "to taste." Thus, for example, "No he probado los caracoles a la francesa" can mean "I haven't tasted escargot." Of course, "I haven't tried escargot" gets the same idea across.
Comments
I had enjoy you web site greatly and always find the information of great value, but in the article “Putting provar to the test” was stated that “b and v are closely related, and in fact are pronounced identically” the last part of this statement is not correct. Both letters have a distinctly pronunciation in Spanish (as in English), although in some Spanish speaking countries specially in the Caribbean these letters are pronounced the same among the less articulated people, and should not be identify as having the same pronunciation.
Greatly appreciated,
Ines