What is the origin of the letter ñ and what does the ñ symbol mean?
The letter ñ is one of the most distinctive elements of the Spanish language, since it is something almost unique to our language.
In fact, we have that letter included in the word "spain" itself.ñ"ol."
¿You want to know where does the letter ñ and what does it mean?
We'll tell you right now!
History of the letter ñ
To understand the letter origin ñ It is necessary to talk a little history.
When?
the ñ It began to be used in Spain centuries ago, during the Middle Ages.
At this time, the monasteries were the main wisdom centers. The monks owned the best libraries and they acted as copyists and notaries.
Why eat it like this?
The cause of the emergence of the ñ It came for reasons of space.
The scrolls were expensive to make.And it took a long time to make them.
Before in Spanish there was the double n; for example, in the word womens, which today would be Mrs.
Why didn't you know this fact about the double n?
And why did it stop being used?
As I have told you, the scrolls were expensive to make and the monks used all possible techniques to implement the maximum number of letters and words on the same scroll.
One of these techniques was the creation of the symbol for ñ, which was exactly the same as the double nn.
Thus, the monks could reduce a letter into many words.
Spellings and sounds from which the ñ derives
But you know what?
The letter eñe does not derive only from the double n (nn). Used to play other sounds of more combinations of letters inherited from Latin.
Let's see this with examples:
- NN: annus - year
- MN: damnu - damage
- GN: pugnus - fist
- NG: ringere – reinir
- Ni + vowel: senior - Sir
In all these words, we get the same sound with the letter ñ than with the original Latin letters.
Reducing these combinations of letters with the ñ, it was possible to economize on Spanish.
officialization of the letter ñ
So, it was the monks who created the letter ñ to expedite your texts. But of course, this didn't become official quickly.
Let's see two key moments in the officialization of the letter eñe in the Spanish language.
Alfonso X, The Wise (S.XIII)
The combinations of phonemes from Latin seen before continued to be used until the thirteenth century.
In this century, King Alfonso X carried out the spelling reform to achieve unification in the language.
included the ñ officially in Spanish to replace the phonetic combinations that we have mentioned.
Since then, the letter ñ It is officially part of the Spanish.
Why did King Alfonso X do this?
It turns out that this king was a great reader and intellectual. You may have deduced it from his nickname: The Wise.
He realized that the use of the letter ñ it was the most appropriate and comfortable for the Spanish language, instead of using the letter combinations.
Antonio de Nebrija (1492 First Grammar Spanish)
Antonio de Nebrija He is a very important figure in the Spanish language. He was the one who created the First Spanish Grammar in 1492.
Do you think he added our dear lyrics ñ or not?
Of course I did, in 1492 it was already the letter ñ in the alphabet Spanish and fully accepted throughout the country.
What is the name of the stick of the ñ?
By the way, I haven't explained to you where it comes from the stick of the ñ that is placed above the letter or what it is called.
I'll explain it to you quickly. 😊
Prime
That spelling (~) is called prime. And it is used to express that combination of double letters that today no longer exist in Spanish: nn, mn, gn...
RAE
Now that you know the name of the hairline of the ñDo you want to know the exact definition of prime assigned in the RAE?
The two meanings proposed by the RAE are the following:
- F. Orthographic sign in the form of a comma, dash or stroke; p. eg, the apostrophe, the cedilla, the tilde of the ñ, etc.
- F. Stripe or short and very thin line.
La RAE Spanish dictionary en the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. There is no more official Spanish dictionary than this one.
It is very good that you know it, so when you have problems with a word you can searchcarla in the RAE and make sure you get the most appropriate definition.
Controversy in its continuity
The letter ñ has also had bad moments in history, and even was about to be removed.
Poor dear. ☹
Why did this happen?
Lets go see it.
Internet against the ñ
At the end of the XNUMXth century it was claimed that all computer keyboards and other electronic devices were the same throughout Europe.
But of course, this could not be because Spain had the ñ and the rest of the countries do not. 😅
That's where the controversy started with the ñ. These ideas endangered our esteemed handwriting, since it could not be write the letter ñ on keyboards.
The Internet also declared itself against the letter ñ. I do not include it in email addresses or web page domains.
However, in 2007 it was accepted.
We won the fight. 😏
It was also included in the Spanish keyboards and in Spanish-speaking countries, both the ñ lowercase and ñ capital letter.
Also, you can find the tilde on the keyboard.
However, if you go to other countries where another language is spoken, it is possible that the ñ on their keyboards.
So, how do you put the letter ñ in the computer from another country?
Can be done. You just have to activate the shortcuts.
En PC es Ctrl+~+n.
En Mac, option+n+n.
defenders and protectors of ñ
The inclusion of the letter ñ on the keyboard and on the internet it was thanks to the pressure made by its defenders.
Some great defenders were the Real Academia Española and the writer Gabriel García Márquez.
La RAE argued that the intention to eliminate the ñ it was a terrible attack on the Spanish language.
Gabriel García Márquez declared that it was scandalous that Europe wanted to eliminate the ñ only for economic reasons.
The ñ as a symbol of a culture
Thanks to these and more defenders of the ñ, currently the Spanish we can use our lyrics on the internet and in the digital world, as we use it in our day to day.
La ñ It is part of us and our culture..
It is a letter that characterizes us and makes Spanish an even more beautiful language.
In fact, Instituto Cervantes organizes since 2021 the so-called Premior Ñ of the Cervantes Institute.
This Premior will be delivered every year. It is a recognition of the people who have the important work of disseminate the Spanish language internationally.
Don't you find it curious that it's called Premior Ñ? With the ñ In uppercase also.
Imagine how proud we are of this letter.
long live the letter Ñ! 💪
Other languages of the world that have the ñ
Although the letter ñ identifies with Castilian, It is not exclusive to our country.
Within our country, other languages such as Galician, Basque and Asturianiano they use it too.
In Latin America there are many indigenous languages who also use it: Mixtec, Quechua, Mapuche, Aymara, Guarani...
Other languages that had contact with Spanish also use it, such as Chabacano in Philippines or the bubi of Equatorial Guinea.
Other cultures that also use the ñ are the Tatar language, of Crimeathe malay of Malaysia or in many languages of Senegalese.
Words with ñ
You already know a lot about the letter eñe.
Maybe you are wondering:
“Are there really many words that have the letter ñ in Spanish?”
“Are there words that begin with the letter ñ?”
The truth is that it is not one of the letters that is used the most, but it does there are quite a few words that have it, more than we think.
- Some most important words containing the ñ:
Child, small, Spanish, handkerchief, bathroom, sir, lady, dream, morning, year, mountain, signal, owner, deceive...
You realize?
The music is taken from words with the letter ñ that we often use.
There's no more?
Of course! There's a lot:
handy, donut, sign, teach, dress up, scold, pineapple, diaper, vineyard, cabin, campaign, spider...
- Words that start with ñ
This is a bit more difficult.
They exist, but they are more unknown:
Ñoño, gnocchi, wildebeest, ñato, ñapa, ñato…
memorize these words that start with ñ if you want to win Scrabble. 😁
Does any ring a bell?
Wildebeest, for example, is one of the animals that start with the letter ñ.
- are there more animals with the letter ñ?
Of course! We have, for example, the bird Rhea or the fish piranhas.
- And do you know that we also have a rainbow color that contains the letter ñ?
Is called indigo, and it's like a dark blue.
- Names of countries with the letter ñ.
Curiously, there is only Spain. 😋
- Names of people with the letter ñ.
Yes we have some:
Begoña, Iñaqui, Beñat, Íñigo, Ñancul...
Most of these names are from basque origin.
- Last names with the letter ñ.
There are also surnames with the ñ, although they are more typical in Latin American countries:
Ñacul, Ñaculeo, Ñanco, Ñielol, Ñiguey, Ñimlaf, Ñanqui, Ñancovilo, Ñam...
- objects with the letter ñ.
Some objects with the letter ñ we have:
Cane, firewood, cloth, sign, doll, bathtub, ñapa, ñanduti...
- Fruits with the letter ñ.
There are fruits in African and South American countries that have the letter ñ:
Ñuña, ñampi, yam o lady They are some.
- adjectives with the letter ñ.
There are many adjectives with this letter:
Scruffy, affectionate, scavenger, disheveled, contemptible...
- Others.
we also have some professions with the letter ñ such as, construction worker: verbs with the letter ñ such as, get by o rig.
Do you want to become a professional of the letter ñ y learn to speak spanish like a native?
You can do it if you attend our face-to-face Spanish courses en Hispania, escuela de español.
Do you prefer to study from home?
It's okay, we also have online Spanish courses, so you can study comfortably and with maximum flexibility.
Activity with the letter ñ
The time has come to practice to learn words with the letter ñ.
Next, you have an exercise in which you must choose the correct word for each definition. There are four options, only one is correct.
Answers
- handkerchief
- niño
- piranhas
- vineyard
- tenir
- fritter
- stingy
- feat
- flock
- Rod
So far today's article about our Ñ. If you have questions, leave us a comment and we will be happy to answer you.
Article written by Carlos Martínez for Hispania, escuela de español
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214 comments on “What is the origin of the letter ñ and what does the ñ symbol mean?”
Very interesting. Long live the ñ!!
I'm glad you like it, Tita.
Thanks for your comment. Long live the ñ!
Excellent explanation.
Let's keep our Spanish language, let's not allow in our vocabulary terms from other invasive languages (like English)
From Argentina 🇦🇷 and as a descendant of four Iberian grandparents (from Castilla, Asturias and Navarra)
Long live Spain 🇪🇦
Hi Eduardo. It's good that you are a descendant of Spanish grandparents!
Glad you like the article.
Yes, we have to be proud of our language and always defend it 🙂
Thank you very much for your comment and a big hug.
Long live Argentina! And good luck with the World Cup final!
I join those who are proud of my Spanish ancestry and in addition to my Vasco-Navarro last name: De Goñi. My sister, my first cousin Sonia, and I are the only ones who carry that last name in Puerto Rico.
Hi, Felix. We express our joy and pride to see that people like you from a country as beautiful as Puerto Rico feel proud of their descent and love the Spanish language. It's good that only you and your family have the last name Goñi!
Indeed, it is a Basque or Navarrese surname.
A big hug from Valencia, Spain!
Among the surnames is mine: Patiño
True, Patiño is one of the most common surnames with the ñ.
Thanks for comment!
Long live the letter ñ, in my country Ecuador we use the word "ñaño" which means brother
Hello, Narcissa.
We did not know that "naño" means brother in Ecuador. Thank you very much for sharing this information with us 🙂
A hug from Spain, ñaña!
Congratulations for the lovely and endearing article on the letter Ñ.
I will toast the Ñ, its virgula and letter n, with a couple of reeds.
Allow me to record at this end of the year, that it is well known what happened in the history of the Spanish language, repeated tricks and tricks, have been rigged to extract the wavy virgula, from islands and neighboring lands, trying to trap it within the cobwebs of other languages not as expressive, precise and old as Spanish words.
I send you a sincere love,
Ariel Odriozola
Beautiful Ariel!
You are quite a poet, yes sir!
Thank you very much for dedicating this beautiful poem to us.
We hope you do it again in future articles, we would love it 🙂
As you say, we send you sincere love and have a happy new year.
Take care!
And so much that I love the Ñ, my last name is Campaña
What a beautiful last name, Antonio!
Thanks for commenting, a hug!
Very good article, the "Ñ" is very used, greetings from Venezuela... And happy new year... 😜
Hello Elvis. Thank you very much for your evaluation.
We hope that its use is also defended in Venezuela 🙂
Happy new year for you, too!
The history of the letter ñ is very interesting. As a last name there is one more Pargaña.
Hello Pedro.
Nice last name! We didn't know him 🙂
We are glad that you like the article.
Thank you so much!
Very interesting. Thank you very much for informing us so clearly.
Thank you very much, Oscar, for writing your opinion.
Take care!
Very interesting and instructive. Thank you very much for informing us so clearly. We used it continuously and I was unaware of its history and origin.
Yes, we use the Ñ continuously and we thought it would be interesting to do an article about its History.
We are very glad that you like it, really.
Take care!
What an interesting description, I loved it, but on the other hand it is unfortunate how some people express themselves by modifying words, speaking vulgarities... and what is called colo that the garrafal... and by the way I would like you to put what the Romance language was, well Please correct me, I will be very grateful, because it disappeared and now it is as described above... what a pity... a cordial hug, good luck and Blessings...
Hello Maria.
We are glad that you like the article and that you share your opinion with us.
Regarding what you say about the Romance languages, these languages derived from Latin (this is the language that disappeared), although books are preserved and can be studied.
Some of the Romance languages are Spanish, French, Italianianoh the portuguese
We hope we have helped you.
Thank you very much and greetings!
Very interesting. As a contribution, I remember that the keyboards of smartphones also have ñ.
Hello Jose. Yes, nowadays practically all smartphones include the ñ.
It is only necessary to configure the keyboard in the Spanish language and that's it.
Regards!
I loved this article, the topic of defending our Spanish language. Much success in your life.
Hello Miguel.
It is a fascinating subject, we agree with you.
Thank you very much for commenting and much success in your life too 🙂
Very interesting. You have forgotten Logroño.
Hello isbael.
The capital of La Rioja, of course.
Thanks for comment!
Your Article is very interesting, entertaining and educational. Let us take care of and defend our Rich and Elegant Language, so many times mistreated when speaking it. No Dignified People can Give up their Language, much less forget it. THANK GOD for Our Language of which I am Proud as well as of My Spanish Roots. From Cuba with Respect, Affection and Loyalty.
Hi leandro.
We are excited to see your words, it shows that you appreciate the Spanish language very much, just like us.
Let's defend our language and feel proud of it, as you say.
Thank you very much for your nice comment.
We wish you the best and have a happy new year 🙂
Man…….. put Spanish surnames with Ñ, Tuñón like mine, I also have it in the town of Peñella
Reading the article is very pleasant. You have teaching ability. Your students will not get bored.
I am glad of my last name: Spain.
THANK YOU.
Hello M. Carmen, we are very grateful for your nice words.
What a great last name!
A hug and happy new year 🙂
Congratulations on this magnificent article about our essential letter Ñ, it goes without saying that I loved knowing much more than I knew about the beautiful Ñ
Hello, Paki.
Thank you very much for your nice words. We are glad that you really like our article and the history of the letter ñ.
Take care!
Very grateful for being part of something so beautiful and interesting that I have learned today. The world of the ñ.
Hi Carlos.
We are also grateful to you for participating in the forum and for your kindness in commenting.
We will continue to make more similar articles.
Take care!
Quite common surnames: Nuñez, Yañez Ibáñez, Muñoz and place names such as Montaña, Campaña, etc.
It is true, there are a lot of surnames with the Ñ, more than they seem.
Greetings!
Our language is beautiful. Just look at the richness of the vocabulary of the Psalms (Bible) and the beauty that can be expressed through its words. Likewise in poetry, songs, novels and other genres of literature written in Spanish. Thanks for sharing this interesting topic. May many more come. From Bogota, Colombia.
Thank you very much Monina.
We agree with you, our language is one of the most beautiful in the world and has great wealth.
Our extensive literary history is an example of this.
Thank you for your nice words, we will continue to do similar articles.
Take care!
I quite liked the article. Great!
I see that the words pupil and hymn have survived.
Hello Ygnacio.
Thank you very much for your good answer!
It is true, that the ñ was created does not mean that all the double spellings with the nom ceased to exist.
Some words like student or hymn remain because the sound is also different from that of the ñ.
Thank you very much for your comment, it is a very interesting observation.
Take care!
I quite liked the article. Great!
I see that the words pupil and hymn have survived.
I see where Toño comes from, from Antonio.
That's right, Ygnacio.
Toño comes from Antonio 🙂
Our language is beautiful. Just look at the richness of the vocabulary of the Psalms (Bible) and the beauty that can be expressed through its words. Likewise in poetry, songs, novels and other genres of literature written in Spanish. Thanks for sharing this interesting topic. May many more come. From Bogota, Colombia.
In Colombia and Venezuela it is customary to ask for the "ñapa" which means a small gift from someone who is selling something and who gives it to someone who buys something.
Hello Oscar.
How curious, we did not know that word in that context.
Thank you very much for your input.
Take care!
It is sad that the author has little knowledge of computer science and hispanpcentricity, many letters have been the subject of the same discussion and it is all due to the number of BITs necessary for each letter and not to the case or linguistic wishes, the same thing happened with Ç and Ę etc. .
Until computers increased their processing capacity, only 7 bits + 1 control could be used (a BYTE that may sound familiar to you) instead of the 2Bytes necessary to include the Ñ, Ń, Œ, etc.
Hi Carlos.
Thank you for your clarification.
Surely what you say in relation to other letters such as Ç and the number of BITs is true, at no time do we deny it.
Greetings!
Very interesting. I loved. The more one lives and reads one learns. Thank you
Hello Sonia.
It's good that you find it interesting!
Well yes, you have to read in this life to learn things. Learning gives happiness.
Thanks to you for commenting 🙂
Hi carlos.
Very interesting note!
I am from Chiclayo, Peru.
In this northern Peruvian province, there is a town called Zaña, which was destined to be the capital of the country, but a great flood caused by the river of the same name changed the viceroy's plans, that was in 1783, I think.
I have friends named Núñez, Muñoz, Zúñiga and Ñiquen.
And to close, I think every day without realizing it we pay tribute to this special little letter, when we refer to the morning, and also every beginning of the year when we greet each other and wish a Happy New Year!!!!
Hello Miguel.
We loved your comment.
It fascinates us when you give us interesting information about your countries, like the one you told us about the town of Zaña. For Hispania, escuela de español, it is very interesting for us to know more about the countries of Latin America, for our studentsianThey love it and many want to travel to Peru.
The surnames of your friends with the ñ are very beautiful. And yes, we love mountains and it's great that this word has the letter Ñ, just like when we wish each other a happy new year.
Very correct, Michael.
Thank you very much and have a prosperous new year 🙂
I am sorry to correct the editor of this article, but the spellings Ñ and ñ do not exist in Basque. The sound ñ does exist, but it is represented by the letters in when it is written. As for example in Espaina (Spain) and espaineraz (in Spanish).
Along with ch (which is replaced by the spellings tx, ts and tz, which are similar but have slight differences in pronunciation), v and q are spellings that do not exist in Basque.
Greetings from a Basque speaker by birth.
Hello!
We greatly appreciate your comment and this clarification about the Ñ in Basque.
It shows that you know a lot about the subject and that you have taken your time to write the comment.
As we always say, it is great to be able to learn new things related to linguistics and the cultures of our country.
Surely many people are interested in your contribution on Basque, just like us.
Thank you very much and urte berri on!
I have always been very proud of my last name, precisely because it contains the ñ… my question is the following: why was the letter ñ replaced by the meaning “ny” and yet it is pronounced ñ in Valencian?ianeither?….
Hi Vincent.
Very good and interesting observation.
It must be taken into account that the valencianoo Catalan are two different languages from Spanish, no matter how similar they are.
The origin of the ñ takes place in the old manuscripts of Spanish, but it is true that in Valencianianor there is the same sound but represented by 'ny'.
Thank you very much for commenting!
Great explanation and very curious
I have learned something curious and ours, thank you
Hello Juan Manuel.
We are very happy that you liked the explanation and that you feel that you have learned something interesting.
Thank you very much for telling us.
Take care!
Excellent article, thanks for sharing that detail of our language.
We're glad you like it, Idalmis.
Thank you for comment!
Very good, I liked it a lot!👋
Thank you very much, Florence.
Greetings!
Super interesting. The professors at the Instituto Cervantes explained it to us when they were recently in Kinshasa, but not in such a complete way. Thanks a lot
How good, M. Jesus! We are very happy to know that our articles reach people in Kinshasa and that they help you.
We will continue to publish more similar posts.
Thank you very much for commenting!
I am delighted to read all the comments, and proud to be Spanish and of its language, I have loved teaching ñ, and just to say that my wife's last name is Higeño, in Lucena Córdoba Spain.
Hello Manuel.
Thank you very much for your nice words.
Yes, this article is getting a lot of love from people and a lot of comments.
Nice last name of your wife 🙂
¡Un fuerte abrazo!
My surnames have the letter ñ, namely Zúñiga Magaña, to all honor. Thanks for the explanation dear Ñ,
Normal that you are proud, we in your place would be too.
¡Hasta pronto!
Hello, the explanation is very interesting, my last name is Zúñiga Magaña. Thank you
Hello Hermelinda.
The two surnames with the ñ? What a nice coincidence! 🙂
You must be one of the few people in the world who have them.
We are glad that you liked the article. A hug!
Among the surnames is mine: Patiño
Live!
Thank you very much for commenting 🙂
Greetings, the article is very interesting, congratulations for such a clear explanation.
I tell you that my last name also has "ñ" it is Cañizares that comes from Spain.
Please can you help me find the origin and meaning of my last name Cañizares. Thanks for your attention.
Hi Carlos.
We are very happy to see your positive opinion about the article.
Of course we help you: the surname Cañizares is of Asturian originianor, from the north of Spain, specifically from a place called Cañizas.
Our school is located in the city of Valencia, in Spain. A few decades ago at the Valencia Fútbol Club there was a very good goalkeeper whose last name was Cañizares, that's why we are very fond of that last name 🙂
Greetings!
Very good article, I will share it!
Thank you very much, Carina.
If you share it you help us a lot 🙂
Omar Montaña
Beautiful last name!
Good morning, I loved knowing a lot about the letter ñ since there are some keyboards that do not have it as a first grade teacher, it is difficult for us to teach spelling, be it the sound and writing of the letter ñ...
Hello Eugenia.
Yes, unfortunately there are still many keyboards that do not have the Ñ, especially in countries where Spanish is not spoken as the first language.
We hope that in the near future that will change and be in all countries.
And a lot of encouragement with the teaching of Ñ at school, even if it costs them a bit, I'm sure that in the end they will learn it very well.
Take care!
Thank you, very interesting and illustrative article.
How good that you think so, Franciso!
Thank you very much for commenting.
Hello, I don't have the beautiful letter Ñ in my last name, but I love using it
Thank you for your excellent explanation Ñooo, it was great
By my expression I do not have to say that I am Cuban
Thank you
Hello isbael.
What a joy that you read and write to us from Cuba!
Wonderful that you find our article excellent.
Thank you very much for commenting.
A big hug from Spain!
Hello:
What an interesting article!
He already knew some things regarding the use of the Ñ, but he learned others today.
I love to learn!
Thanks thanks.
Greetings 🇪🇦
Hi Maria Lourdes.
It's great that you already knew things about this topic and that you learned something new.
Happiness is in learning, and also in sharing. So we are happy for your happiness 🙂
Thanks to you!
There are always important things to learn, very good article.
Of course, Peter.
And if you can learn something new every day, even better!
Thank you very much for commenting!
Good and enlightening article on the origin of the letter ñ. My last name is Minoso. Will it be from Spain?
We are glad you liked it, Mario.
Nice last name, possibly it has Spanish origin 🙂
Greetings!
I really liked the whole article about our beloved letter ñ. You have enlightened me a lot about her and I have learned things that I did not know because they have never been taught to us. Just like other countries fight for their particularities, such as the beta letter (double s) in the German language, or the great variety that the Nordics have, our beautiful language has to continue fighting for our peculiarities. For this, our academics from the RAE are here. An affectionate greeting and happy new year to all the speakers of our beloved Spanish.
Hello, Cayetano.
Thank you very much for your nice words.
We are glad that you find it illustrative and that you have learned something new with us.
Exactly, all languages have their peculiarities and distinctions. In our case, Ñ is one of them. We must take care of her.
A loving greeting to you too and have a happy new year 🙂
In Paraguay we have the Ñ route, in the Paraguayan Chaco
It's good that there is a route with the letter Ñ!
We didn't know, it sure is beautiful.
Thanks for comment!
Interesting. My maternal last name is Ludeña, and until Spanish keyboards appeared my last name was Ludena. Having some legal identity issues. It turns out funny. Greetings and long live the Spanish language.
Hi Mark.
We are very happy that you can finally write your last name correctly and that you no longer have problems for that reason.
Thank you very much, long live the Spanish language!
It comes from Asturias, it is a small town in the council of Piloña
Hi Jose Alfredo.
We did not know this last name, thank you very much for telling us 🙂
Take care!
I do not answer. I only add the word amniotic, which includes the combination "mn", which the article mentions as non-existent.
Thank you very much for your contribution, Dago.
Regards!
Quite common last names: Nuñez, Yañez.
Wow yes.
Thanks for comment!
Very illustrative. My last name is Muñoz and I didn't know where the ñ came from. I thought it was the influence of another language. Thank you…
Hi Ignacio. Of course, the origin of the letter ñ is very curious and research is needed to know it well.
I'm glad you found it an illustrative article.
Thank you very much for your comment, best regards!
The letter ñ is a suigeneri spelling of the Spanish language, gives it a pathognomonic characteristic and allows us to enhance our language in the world linguistic universe
Hello German. Thank you very much for your contribution, we take it into account.
Yes, the ñ is a very important symbol of our language and it enhances our language and culture 🙂
Thanks for comment. Cheers!
Nuñez is a great surname of Spanish origin well known in Colombia. It reminds us of that brave explorer, conqueror and discoverer of the Pacific Ocean from the isthmus of Panama: Don Vaco Nuñez de Balboa.
That is, that great explorer's last name was: Núñez. It's good that you meet him!
It makes us very happy to see that our countries appreciate each other.ian and they admire each other, as it should be!
A big hug 🙂
Excellent article. I don't miss reading these orthographic culture topics. I congratulate you!! Alberto Leyva Ramirez. Barranquilla, Colombia.
Hello Alberto, how good that you read to us from Barranquilla!
We are especially excited that our brothers in Latin America read us and are curious to know in depth the language we share.
We will do more articles on spelling culture 🙂
Thanks for your comment, see you soon!
I had not heard this story, it seems interesting to me, because it helps to know the origins of our alphabet.
Juan Luis Ferreiras
Dominican Republic.
Hello, Juan Luis.
Effectively! We agree with you. We think it is important and interesting to know where the particularities of our language come from.
A hug from Spain!
There is something important that is not included in the defense of the letter ñ and that is that it is not the same, to say that you have a happy year, or that you have a happy year.
Indeed, Raphael. There are many confusions around that word and it is necessary to be clear about the difference hahaha
Greetings!
Vasco Nunez de Balboa.
He was a great Spanish explorer.
Thanks for comment!
I liked the article and the ñ is used in Puerto Rico and despite the American influence in PR Spanish has survived for more than 100 years. They come in computers and if not, I write it with the “ASCII Decimal Value”.
Hi Ernest.
It's great that Spanish has endured as the main language in Puerto Rico, as you say.
I hope it continues like this always in your beautiful country.
Thanks for sharing that little trick to activate the ñ on some keyboards, maybe it will help someone.
Take care!
Why do most Argentines pronounceian the eñe as if it were two vowels?
Hello Antonio. Yes, it is true that Argentines or other Spanish speakers pronounceian the ñ and other letters (such as ll, c) differently from how we Spaniards do it.
Although really that also happens within Spain in regions such as Andalusia or the Canary Islands.
We personally like that this variety exists in Spanish and that it is spoken in different ways in other countries, it gives it a lot of richness 🙂
This article on the origin of the letter ñ is very interesting, as well as very timely for this time, the end of 2022 and close to the beginning of 2023, because on several occasions, from different years, some of my family and friends have sent me text messages wishing me a happy YEAR, that makes me laugh, even though I know they are wishing me a happy YEAR. That is the importance of the letter ñ and the care that we must have when writing texts in our beautiful language.
Hi Elkin.
Fortunately or unfortunately, YEAR looks a lot like YEAR in its writing, yes, hahahaha
You have to be careful when writing it. The bad thing is when a foreigner writes it from a mobile or keyboard that does not have the letter ñ. In that case we can only laugh and think that this person has no bad intentions.
Thanks for comment!
Interesting description of the origin and path followed by the ñ. My last name is Castañeda and in its grammatical structure it has the ñ. Long live the ñ!
Hello Pedro. We are glad that you like the article.
Nice last name Castañeda, yes sir.
I have investigated a bit and apparently its origin comes from Cantabria, there is a city that is called that.
!Regards
Very interesting, but now I wondered why this phenomenon was not observed in other countries with a Romance language, such as Italy, France and Romania; I'm sure that in these countries the scrolls were also quite expensive, so why didn't they apply the same solution.
Very interesting observation, Rodrigo.
It is true that in other romance countries this letter is not used.
In fact, in Italianianor the sound continues but with the union of two letters: “gn”.
For example, the word "gnocchi".
Thanks for comment!
My last name on my mother's side has that letter, I find it annoying when I get emails online where they put Pena.
Hello John.
I think the same, unfortunately the use of ñ is still not as established in keyboards and on the internet as it should be.
I hope that not too long you will receive emails with your last name correctly. All the best!
Very interesting and educational analysis. Congratulation to you.
Ñusta (Inca princess), also begins with ñ.
In my email, I was a victim of the "murder" of the Ñ. (Last name Ormeno)
Hi Nelson. We are very happy that you like it. Thanks a lot!
Thank you for offering us the information about Ñusta as an Inca princess. It's great that we all learn with the information in the article and with what you, the forum participants, offer. Thus this becomes a more interactive and enjoyable space.
I hope that in the future the ñ of your last name will not kill you anymore.
Regards!
Very interesting review, about the curiosities of our language, a great ingenuity of the monks who achieved a great discovery at the time by giving birth to a new letter the ñ. And I didn't know that it was a letter that unleashed a digital war, to be eliminated, but the important thing is that it survived.
Hi Arturo. We are very happy that you like the article and that you have learned new things that interest you.
Yes, the monks were very clever and the creation of the ñ helped a lot to transmit the texts for a long time.
Exactly, despite all the controversy, the ñ survived and won its place in most computers, at least in Spain.
Thanks for commenting, a hug!
The article is very interesting, my last name has the ñ, and in the USA, it is uncomfortable for me because they do not use it and I have to write Pinedo and the correct thing is Piñero, who comes from the island of Hierro, and my Great Family feels very proud of it. Long live the "Ñ".
Good job, Genaro!
Do you mean the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands?
If so, your family comes from one of the most beautiful islands in Europe, it is beautiful. Normal that you are proud of it.
We are very sorry that in the USA they do not use the ñ and misspell your last name, let's see if they add it to their keyboards in the future.
Many thanks and a strong hug!
Without a doubt, a wonderful article, we will continue to defend our ñ. I need her, without her I am not complete, my last name is Montaño proudly my father is from the north of Nayarit
I hope our next generations continue to support
Unfortunately in the USA we have to eliminate it in official documents, but I hope one day, they include the ñ
Hi Javier.
We are very glad that you feel as proud as we do of the Ñ.
Nice last name, friend.
We hope that in the future in those official documents in the USA you will be able to write it correctly.
Take care!
Long live the ñ
Live!
Thanks for commenting 🙂
It's good that this letter continues, although there are still many keyboards that are not updated. My last name, in some government offices they still put the number sign (#)
Hello, Aurora. Luckily, we still have her with us and I'm sure she will never disappear.
It's a shame that many keyboards still don't have it, yes. That has to change!
Thank you for your comment 🙂
A very interesting topic for our language, however now more slang is spoken than the correct Spanish language and it varies too much with teaching in the 60s, 70s.
There is a total mix and the new generation confuses too much and writes and speaks with many errors.
I hope RAE will control all this confusion especially to this young generation.
Hi Hilda. We agree, the new generations of children read less and less books and literature in general, that can cause what you mention: misuse of the language, misspelling, lexical impoverishment... We have to encourage young people to read more.
And regarding La RAE, of course it does, it does a great job.
Thanks for your comment!
Hey.
I had heard that ñ used to replace double N (nn) in writing, but when I found out about the nasal vowels in Portuguese (such as ã and õ) I thought it simply indicated the removal of an n. Do you know if they have any relationship with our ñ?
All the best
I love the letter ñ because it is part of my language, Spanish. I am Spanish and I feel very proud of this letter. When the problem 6 arose, they wanted to suppress it, I defended it in writing and also loudly. Long live Spain and long live your language: the best of all!!!!
Hello Pilly. We share our happiness about the Spanish language and about the ñ with you.
We're glad you were one of the defenders when they wanted to suppress it.
Thank you so much!
I love this application, it allows to enrich the Spanish language. Since I started learning to read and write as a child, I have always liked the ñ, for me it is one of the most beautiful letters, especially when drawing the virgulilla😍
Hello, Imara.
It's good that you always liked the letter ñ and drawing the virguilla.
If it has its charm!
Thank you very much for your comment!
My last name is Castañeda and I hope that we continue with more enrichment of our mouthpiece.
Hi Jose Miguel.
Castañeda is a very authentic Spanish surname, feel very proud to have it! 🙂
A hug and continue learning about our language.
Thanks for comment.
Very nice article. He knew almost all this about the letter eñe. He did not know, however, of the first grammar dictionary of 1492, or did not remember it. I remember my shock when I found out that they wanted to take it away from us. He was not willing to lose her, even though he was Argentine. I also remember the efforts of ubicarla on keyboards that didn't have it, or that weren't set to Spanish. Another way to write them, lowercase and uppercase respectively, are with Alt+164 and Alt+165, if I remember correctly. I also thought of a bricklayer, remembering the color indigo, album (white) and indigo (blue indigo), and let's remember the name and surname: Iñigo and Iñíguez, like the ancient kings of Navarra and Pamplona, and others, from whom our ancestor descended, the King Alfonso X, the Wise... I understand that of the two major currents of conservation of the Galician language, one of them more radical also tries to dispense with the eñe or eliminate it, using the Portuguese spelling, alluding to the fact that it is precisely an "invention" and Castilian "imposition"... Reviewing old documents, such as birth certificates from the 1501th and XNUMXth centuries, and logbooks such as that of Christopher Columbus from XNUMX, which can be found in the General Archive of the Indies, of which there is only one later manuscript copy, from the XNUMXth century, in the Treasury of the National Library of Buenos Aires, and digitized from the original in the Spanish Network Archives, now PARES, you can see innumerable (and not “iñumerables” 😉😆) abbreviations to reduce space, andmany double letters, already extinct, still present in other Romance languages, such as Italianianor, French and German, such as two-letter names and surnames: Ao. (Antonio), Mz (Muñoz or Menéndez, sometimes it is not known which one they refer to), Iz (Iñíguez), Jz (Jiménez), or more, such as Ant.o (Antonio), Mn.z (Menéndez), Hn.z (Hernández), etc.; and the double letters were, among others, the double te, “tt”, even in names like Anttonio, and its abbreviation Antt.o, double that, “ss” (present in German, as the letter that we sometimes call as “beta”, ß, being two ses actually joined), sometimes the double ene also appeared, even in Spanish texts, and I have seen space reduction used with tildes over the erre (formerly, “ere”), ese, or , and others, leaving ř (similar), š, ō, etc… The spellings in Roman letters of languages like Japanese, are the tilde over the o when it is prolonged (in Japanese it would be おう、 transliterated as “ou”, but pronounced like "oo", but not like "o, o", but like a long "o", that's why it is written ō, although sometimes, oh too. Thus, the Noh Theater can be written Nō, Nõ, Noh, Nou , Noo, but the first ones are preferred), on the “u” (うう、uu, ū), on the “a” (ああ、aa, ā), e (ええ、えい、ee and ei, respectively, currently pronounced as “long e), ē), i (いい、ii, ī). It should be clarified that the pronunciations in Latin, at least the classical and the cult, were for nn, gn, ng, mn, ni, just as we would pronounce them in Spanish, and perhaps they made a break in the vulgar Latin or the late cult, approaching to the pronunciation of the “ñ”, as happened with the spellings gn, ng, to the italianI am Portuguese… To my ear and the way of placing the mouth and tongue, the pronunciations of “ñ” and “ni” differ, “año” and “anio” sounding different, for example. The sound of the eñe always seemed very particular to me. Even the Japanese try to get closer to their pronunciation by combining their “kana” in old Spanish books (eg, from the 1940s). “Nio”, “nío” and “ño” sound different, and would be written as にょ、にお、 and っにょ (with another preceding syllable). Returning to our beloved Ñ, if they want to remove it, they should remove the ß from the Germans, from the Portuguese the ã and the õ, the ç, from the Serbs, Croats and Vietnamese, letters like đ, ă, ơ, ư, etc. , the Turks, ı, ç, ş, ğ, etc., and let's not talk about Hungarians, Nordics, Dutch, etc... And I don't think they just leave themselves like that either. So keep defending our Ñ, how well deserved it is. The che, the elle and the r and ere have already been handled a lot, and although they continue to exist, they have lost prominence in the alphabet and in dictionaries. If they damage our letter eñe, they damage Spain itself, our mother country. Let's not be part of the herd and let's not allow our Spanish, or Castilian strictly speaking, if you will. Better that our language grow and not shrink, that the dancing of strawberry trees in people's hats with bows continue, and the ringing of campaign bells. Not to forget the nobility of the ñandubay. Happy end of year.
Hi, Pablo.
We applaud your comment, friend. You have provided us with very interesting information that many of our readers will surely appreciate.
You can tell that you are passionate about this topic and we are very happy that you share your knowledge with us.
Anything you can add to this forum will be welcome, and your comment adds a lot, so... Thank you very much!
We loved the part where you talk about the abbreviations that already existed in old documents and the double letters, which is related to the creation of the letter ñ.
And you have left us with our mouths open when you have made comparisons with Japanese spellings, we had no idea about all this.
It is super interesting to make these comparisons between two languages that are so different but, at the same time, share a similar sound, that of the ñ.
And, of course, we must defend our ñ; As you say, many languages have their unique letters, letters that function as a symbol of a language, a culture and a country (in our case, of many countries).
Precious that little poem that you have made at the end with words that contain the ñ.
Once again, Pablo, we are very grateful for this great comment, for having dedicated so much time and care to write it and for offering so much useful knowledge related to the subject, it shows that you are an expert in the field.
A hug friend and happy new year. We hope to see you on this forum more often and that you add value with your knowledge.
And congratulations on the World Cup, long live Argentina!
Thank you for letting us know the origin of the ñ, and the fight to include it in the keyboards, without the ñ it would be complicated to write documents in Spanish.
Thank you very much Jorge, for your comment 🙂
Well yes, without the ñ there would be many problems when writing official documents. Actually, unfortunately, as we can see in the comments of our dear readers, these problems are still happening for keyboards that do not have the ñ. So... let's fight to get it included on all devices!
Take care!
Excellent and very practical explanation, thank you very much
Thank you very much for offering us your pleasure, Carlos.
Take care!
Congratulations, I loved this article viva la Ñ, in Barranquilla and the Colombian coastiana we have several regionalisms with the ñ. Thank you
Thank you very much Ingrid. What a joy that there are different regionalisms with the ñ in Colombia!
We love Colombia and many of our studentsianyou have visited it too.
Greetings!
Interesting information since I have a last name that contains this very significant letter thanks for sharing ok
Hello Xanath.
How nice that you have a last name with the letter ñ! We hope you wear it with great pride.
Thank you very much for commenting!
Thanks to you, I now have enough information to continue defending the use of the letter ñ, and thus bring out of ignorance so many people who agree with its elimination.
We are glad that you use us as a reference to defend the use of ñ, Eudo.
It's all a detail on your part.
Thank you so much!
Interesting information about the letter ñ. I am very proud of her since my first surname PEÑA carries her and also my country SPAIN.
Totally agree with Garcia Marquez...in that "it is a shame that they wanted to eliminate the ñ for economic reasons...." LONG LIVE THE Ñ... Thank you for such a wonderful description of the history of the Ñ.
Hi Clara.
Well yes, luckily there were great Spanish-speaking references like García Márquez who came out to defend her.
Surely you will have suffered the common confusion of PENA, instead of PEÑA, when it comes to seeing your name reflected in documents and so on.
To fight for the ñ, which is our symbol.
Thank you very much for your comment, we are glad that you liked the historical description.
Take care!
Hey.
I had heard that ñ used to replace double N (nn) in writing, but when I found out about the nasal vowels in Portuguese (such as ã and õ) I thought it simply indicated the removal of an n. Do you know if they have any relationship with our ñ?
All the best
Hello Jose Luis.
As you well say, the ñ was originally created as a means to merge the double spellings such as nn, mn, gn...
Regarding what you say about the nasal vowels in Portuguese, according to what we have investigated, we have not found any relationship with our letter ñ.
Although it is true that these vowels also have the tilde over the a and o.
Thank you very much for your question.
Greetings!
From Costa Rica
My Last Name Toruño
It seemed very important to me to know its history of the famous ñ.
Hi Freddy.
How nice that you read to us from Costa Rica! And that you found the article interesting.
Beautiful last name, friend.
A big hug from Spain and thanks for commenting 🙂
Good day. Thanks for the topic. Very curious and interesting. On the other hand, you can make an article of the letter "ll" (double l). If you already did it, you can send it to my email the link. Thank you!!.
Hello Manuel. Great that you liked the ñ article!
Well, the truth is that the topic you propose on the double L sounds very good, it is sure to be very successful and provides valuable information.
To keep up to date with our articles, I recommend that you take a look at the blog of Hispania, escuela de español, every Tuesday and Thursday morning, which is when they are published: https://hispania-valencia.com/blog/
You can also follow us on instagram (Hispania, escuela de español), since mention is made of all the articles that are uploaded.
Thank you very much for your interest, a hug!
Congratulations for such a good article, which explains very well the importance of our letter ñ. Among the fruits, the delicious “pineapple” was missing, and also a word of daily use: cunt, and excuse me for the expression but it is written with ñ.
Hi Euthymius.
That is, we have the delicious "pineapple" and the word "cunt"... I better not say its meaning hahaha
Thank you very much for commenting, I'm glad you liked it.
Greetings!
There are many Spanish surnames with ñ, such as: Nuñez, Dueñez, Cañas, Montaño. And thinking otherwise, learning Spanish is easier with the letter Ñ, as well as learning to read.
Indeed, Rosario. There are many surnames with the Ñ, more than we think.
And yes, this letter is necessary to learn Spanish correctly, otherwise it would not be possible.
Thanks for comment!
Very interesting article.
It is a letter that characterizes the language.
Long live the Ñ!!
Hi Lourdes.
The truth is that if. The Ñ is a great symbol of our language and culture, let's take care of it!
Take care!
Hello, excellent, info, these last names come from far back, I think from the discovery and conquest of the peoples,
Hi Eduardo.
Yes, many of these surnames really are quite old.
Thank you very much for your comment!
One of my last names is Piñero. I think it exists in Portuguese, but spelled Pinhero, which is the form of the sound in that language that does not have the ñ.
Exactly, Guajiro. That last name also exists in Portuguese but it is spelled differently.
Thank you for your contribution, greetings!
I remember the controversy of the internet and its intention to eliminate the ñ. Scandalous, we simply could not write Spanish. We could not write Spain and in particular I could not write my second last name which is Nuñez.
Hello, Willibardo.
Indeed, thank goodness that now the use of ñ is more consolidated in devices and keyboards.
It must be maddening not to be able to spell your last name correctly. I hope now you can.
Thanks and a hug!
Very interesting contribution to know the Spanish language and, especially, about the letter "ñ".
Of course, speaking of "Spanish language", it strikes me that "English language" is used to notify that "...we have Spanish courses 'online', so you can study...", being able to express the same thing, I mean ' online', in the Spanish language itself, which, according to what is said, "is very rich in idiomatic expressions"...
Fraternally,
Bill
(Uruguay)
Hello Guillermo.
We understand your opinion and thank you very much for communicating.carlaI'm sure many people think like you.
For us it is not bad to use words in English that have been standardized for decades such as 'online', 'sandwich' or 'hobby', for example.
Thank you very much for your comment and happy new year.
Hello! Very good review about the Ñ! And Eduardo's argument is very good: let's not allow in our vocabulary terms from other invasive languages that unjustifiably reduce the use of ours (shopping, zaping, briefing, fake news, news letter and many others that those of us who do not speak English do not understand). And a small detail: the Ñ is not used in Basque as a general rule, but there are some exceptions such as the proper name BeÑat.
I am from A CoruÑa but I have lived in Vitoria for 40 years and I speak, understand and write Basque since I passed the EGA 25 years ago.
Loving greetings!
Hello Pegasus.
Well yes, let's defend our language and feel proud of our letter ñ.
Thank you very much for adding your contribution on the surname Beñat and the use of the ñ in Basque.
Regards!
Interesting article about our beloved and very Spanish Ñ, especially since in my case my paternal last name is ÑOPE. It worries me to know that if our precious Ñ with her wavy bow did not exist, perhaps my last name would be spelled NNOPE, I definitely prefer to be a proud ÑOPE. Greetings from Lima, Peru.
Hahahaha Very good, Silverio!
It would not be very convenient to be called NNope. We are glad that it is Ñope.
Thank you very much for commenting and for sharing your sense of humor.
Have a happy year!
A Galician parish?
size
A Galician surname?
size
Thanks for your contribution Manuel.
Greetings!
Hello. Congratulations. I liked it a lot. All the best.
Hi Diego.
Thank you very much for telling us that you like it 🙂
Take care!
Last name with the letter “ñ”…. PAIN…
Yes, Peña is one of the most common surnames with the Ñ.
Thanks for commenting, John!
Many centuries of existence for the great “Ñ”
We say the same, Jesus!
Long live the Ñ!
Bavo, Carlos Martínez, very interesting, documented and argued exposition, expressed in a very entertaining way. My thanks and congratulations
Thank you very much, Michael.
We greatly appreciate you dedicating this recognition to our editor with such good adjectives.
We hope you have a happy new year.
Take care!
Well, I'll tell you this article inspired me. My sister-in-law Anduriña punched me for deceiving Ñico by telling him that her child was going to be a girl and they were going to call him Begoña and when he was born they would go to live in Spain to eat piranha. Well darlings to all Happy New Year and toast with old Bacardi and don't stop putting yams on the Christmas Eve table.
Hello Jose.
Thank you very much for this beautiful poem with the Ñ, it is very funny hahaha
I hope that in future posts you will be encouraged to do the same 🙂
A big hug and Merry Christmas.
Excellent article, which teaches us so many things about the ñ. My last name "Muñoz" also bears it, and of course I am proud of our language, and of all that is ours, Happy Holidays
Hello Jose.
Thank you very much for evaluating our article.
Without a doubt, "Muñoz" is one of the most widespread surnames with the Ñ there is.
We share the pride of our language with you.
Happy Holidays!
Excellent
..research
Thank you so much!
A greeting.
Very good article, I will share it!
I didn't know the story behind the letter 'ñ'. I loved it, thank you very much for sharing. In addition, my last name also contains 'Cañameras'. It wouldn't be faircarla traffic.
Hi Rosa Maria.
Yes, the history of the Ñ is certainly interesting. We are glad that you like our article.
Beautiful last name! 🙂
Thank you very much for commenting.
Hello. Nice article.
Some time ago I read that the scribe monks of the Middle Ages, when faced with the challenge of saving space in the double "n", what they did was write the letter "N" or "n", and then on top of it, using a more compressed they wrote a lowercase “n”.
Over time, this lower case “n” became stylized and thus the current tilde for the “Ñ” or “ñ” appeared.
regards
Hi Jose M.
True, good observation 🙂
The birth of the Ñ is a very beautiful story, without a doubt.
Thank you very much for commenting and happy new year.
Thanks for the interesting article and all the comments. Until the issue on keyboards and websites was resolved, my whole family and I had a double personality problem because our last name is Añaños. Yes, yes... with two ñes. Well, us and a lot of people from Ansó, in Huesca.
Now happy and content.
Hello Angel.
How interesting what you tell us.
Your last name is the first with two Ñs that has appeared so far. How beautiful!
We are glad that now you no longer have problems typing it with the keyboard.
Thank you very much for commenting, happy new year!