Transcend

transcend — this is a verb that is used to show that something goes above or beyond the norm; to surpass or excel

transcender — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning

A few years ago I discovered American “Transcendentalism” through the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau when I had an advanced junior level English class thrust upon me at the very start of a new school year. Why I didn’t have much prior experience with these two men’s writings is something I’ve been asking myself ever since. While I initially (and even continually) grumbled about having that class dumped into my lap literally one day before school started, I am forever grateful that it happened because I was forced to teach, and thus learn for myself, about Emerson and Thoreau. In addition, I taught some of Emily Dickinson’s poetry, but I was already familiar with her work. This all happened because the junior year of English, at least at the school where I taught, focuses on American Literature, which I normally pride myself on being pretty well read in, but, as I already mentioned, for some reason I had not read (or didn’t remember reading, at least) any of Emerson’s essays or Thoreau’s glorious Walden.

In my defense, I had heard of Walden, but I hadn’t read it. I’ve now read it three times, and I want to read it again. I’m slowly working my way through all of Emerson’s writings as well, on my own, savoring all of his wisdom. The Transcendentalist movement speaks to me because it so closely mirrors many of my own deep thoughts, especially where thinking for oneself is the crux of things. It could well be that I did read Emerson in my early years of study at a time when I wasn’t mature enough to appreciate, treasure, and relate to what he had to say — by the time I taught the aforementioned class, though, I was 50, so I was definitely mature enough.

Here is a cute and very simplified breakdown of Five pillars of Transcendentalism if you are interested.

Prior to becoming focused on the works of the Transcendental writers, my main experience with the word “transcend” came from religious readings and motivational speakers. It applies well to sports, too, where athletes are asked to “transcend” their limitations and really push themselves to excel in ways they might not think they were capable of doing.

“Transcend” works very well from English to Spanish in all its forms because it is one of the purest cognates out there. It comes to us from Latin’s transcendere which means “to climb across:” climb across that limitation, whether literal or figurative, that is in your path. You can see that in Spanish, the final “e” is simply dropped from the Latin word to get “transcender.”

The other forms of the verb that we use as other parts of speech have very clear cognates in Spanish, too. The nouns of “transcendence” and “transcendentalism” become “transcendencia” and “transcendentalismo;” the adjectives of “transcendental” and “transcendent” become “transcendental” and “transcendente;” and the adverb of “transcendentally” becomes “transcendentalmente.” There are a few other noun forms, but you see the cognate pattern. Since the root is in Latin, the Italian and French words for all of these are also cognates.

Nowadays, people use the prefix trans- as an abbreviated word (“trans”) to refer to someone who is transgender or transsexual; however, the prefix trans- means that something goes across or beyond. That’s why we have transatlantic cruises that go across the Atlantic ocean and why we have transportation that carries us across the ground or through the air and why we have transmissions that take our messages and carry them across the miles to other places and why we have translation that takes a message in one language and carries it across to another language and so on and so on.

The majority of words in English that begin with the prefix of trans- come to us straight from Latin, so those words typically all have very easily recognized Spanish (Italian and French) cognates. (“transmisiόn,” “transporte,” “transatlántico,” etc.)

When we “transcend” we go above and beyond. You don’t have to read Emerson or Thoreau to take your thoughts to “transcendental” places, but sometimes it helps to have the lexicon to help you get there. If you prefer not to read this “transcription” (“transcripciόn”), remember that there is a recording at the top of the page of me reading it to you.

Until next time. Please share this with others who might like to subscribe.

Tammy Marshall