I’d be remiss to allow this Monday that falls on the first day of January, 2024, to slip by without addressing a cognate duo that may be on many people’s minds today.
resolution — while this word has many meanings, the one I’ll focus on today is “something that is resolved or for which a firm decision has been made regarding it”
resolución — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning
These words hearken back to Latin’s resolutio which comes from resolvere which is the ancestor of our word “resolve” and Spanish’s word “resolver,” both of which have many meanings, too. However, for the start of this new year, if you “resolve” to do something, then you are making a firm decision to do whatever it is you’ve “resolved” to do.
I make “resolutions” each new year — most of them have to do with reading a certain number of books (it’s usually 50) and writing a certain amount (this year, I resolve to complete another book).
In a book or short story, there is a “resolution” as well. It’s the point at which the main complication is worked out and everything is then settled or solved.
If you are “resolute” about something, you are determined to get it done and may even show courage or bravery about it. In Spanish this adjective is “resuelto” for masculine things and “resuelta” for feminine things. It has the vowel change because, as a verb, “resolver” is what is called a “stem-changing verb” in Spanish, so “I resolve” becomes “yo resuelvo.” That vowel change exists then in the adjective form of the word, too.
“I am a resolute person” is “Yo soy una persona resuelta” no matter the gender of the person who is speaking because the word “persona” is always feminine in Spanish.
I like to think that I’m a very resolute person because I decide things and then get them done. I think that’s why I actually enjoy making New Year’s “resolutions” or “resoluciones” because I know that I’ll see them through.
If you’re observant, perhaps you noticed that the accent mark in the singular “resolución” was dropped when the word was pluralized to “resoluciones.” If you noticed that, give yourself a pat on the back; if you didn’t, then “resolve” to be more observant in 2024. Ha ha.
Are you a movie buff? Do you remember the scene in “National Treasure 2” where they search the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office? If not, here’s a link to the clip: Resolute Desk clip
Here’s the photo that’s mentioned in the clip, too.
The desk was made “from the oak timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute. In 1880, Queen Victoria gifted the desk to President Rutherford B. Hayes.” (whitehousehistory.org) A naval ship would need to be very “resolute” or determined and brave to do battle with ships of other nations.
This is the first free cognate post of 2024. At the start of each month, there will be a free post, but every Monday, paying subscribers receive a new “Cognate Cognizance” post in their email. Won’t you help me with another of my “resolutions” — gain more readers/paying subscribers — by choosing to become a paying subscriber today?
Happy New Year. Good luck with whatever “resoluciones” you’ve made for 2024.
Tammy Marshall
Resolution