# Why "Antartida" in Spanish?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 29, 2000, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806 "2000-05-29T15:51:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cmoreno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmoreno)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/1 "2000-05-29T15:51:00Z")
Why do the Spanish (and the Portuguese) call “Antartida” that part of the Earth we all (the rest of Western World)call “Antarctica”? Does it has something to do with “Atlantida” ?
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/2 "2000-05-29T16:39:37Z")
All of my Spanish dictionaries (both Iberian and American) list _ártico_ and _antártico_/_Antártica_, omitting only the internal **c** that is frequently omitted by speakers of English, as well.
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### Author:  [@cmoreno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmoreno)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/3 "2000-05-29T16:59:14Z")
Sorry, Tom, I think you mixed it up: you saw the adjective (artico, antartico), not the noun. My Pequeño Larousse, and all press in Argentina, Chile, etc., calls the land at the South Pole “Antartida”. In Portuguese, the same thing. Do not forget that Spanish and Portuguese dictionaries do not bring proper names (authors, places, etc.) as the English do. You must look in a Spanish encyclopaedia, in order to check it. Hasta la vista.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/4 "2000-05-29T17:50:35Z")
My **The New World SPANISH-ENGLISH and ENGLISH-SPANISH Dictionary** gives the proper noun _Antártica_, as noted above. It is not a very recent dictionary, so I would guess that the pronunciation in southern South America has changed and the spelling has followed.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/5 "2000-05-29T18:00:34Z")
Sources I’ve read use “Antartida” when the continent is referred to solely by that name. It’s usually “la Antartida.”
However, the other formation would be “el continente anartico”
Antartida showed up in more of my sources than Atlantida.
I didn’t find any source that referred to the Arctic as “Artida”, but since there is no continent there and no Spanish-speaking country in that area, I suppose that the Academia Real hasn’t worried much about it.
Anybody know any members of the Academia Real? We should get the answer right from the horses’ mouths?
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/6 "2000-05-29T19:30:24Z")
Let’s get the spelling exactly right. In Spanish, it’s **Antártida** , the second _a_ being _con acento_. I don’t know about Portuguese.
I suspect those silly Latinos are just spelling the word the way it’s pronounced, a concept totally foreign to English speakers. How many English speakers do you know who pronounce “Antarctica” the way it’s spelled? (Okay, I do, but I’m also the only person I know who pronounces the _r_ in _February_.) More often than not, you will hear “Anardica.”
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### Author:  [@cmoreno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmoreno)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/7 "2000-05-29T22:59:41Z")
Come on, Sarcophage: you say they are spelling the word just like they pronounce it? And how they pronounce it, Pale Face? They could choose between “Antártida” or “Antártica”, and spell it and pronounce it accordingly.And we are not talking here about “silly” latinos or wasps; we are talking about two languages that reached literary maturity contemporaneously with England and France. Salamanca and Coimbra universities are coeval with Upsala, Oxford and Sorbonne. Why they chose “Antártida”? That is the real point. Hasta la vista. Cmoreno.
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2000, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/8 "2000-05-29T23:29:58Z")
I don’t know how anyone could expect Antractica to be pronounced with a “d” sound.
You can get the **Diccionario de Autoridades** , published between 1726-1739 online. It only has an entry for “antártico”. However, the continent of Antarctica didn’t exist then.
**El Diccionario Usual de la Real Academia Española** published in 1992 doesn’t have an entry for Antártida, but it does list “antártico(a)”
So, I’m still baffled as to how the word got a “d” in it? The Greek roots of “arctic” and “antarctic” appear to have a “c” sound in them, but I would defer to people who speak Spanish and/or Portuguese far better than I.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/9 "2000-05-30T01:14:42Z")
I _strongly_ suspect some arcane (at least to us the TV-raised) grammatical rule on constructing adjectives out of names (and vice-versa) in Latin and Latin-derived languages.
An earlier poster gives us a hint: “Atlántida” (Atlantis) goes with “atlántico” : So . . .
(WARNING! Wild-Assed-Guess Ahead)
…it probably has to do with how the Iberian languages adapted to themselves whatever _Latin_ rule determines if you add “-icus” instead of “-anus” or whatever else
By this hypothesis, then, we Iberophones are in effect applying an ancient place-naming protocol and calling the land-mass in the antarctic region, “Antarctis”.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it until someone who _really_ knows shows up 😛
José
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### Author:  [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/10 "2000-05-30T04:23:08Z")
Actually, cmoreno brings up a question that’s been bothering me for a while.
No, not the Antarctica thing, exactly, but other place names.
“Sweden” in Sweden is Sverige (couple of umlauts, there).
Germany, in the Romance languages, is some version of “Allemange”.
I forget the translation, but “Japan” in Japan is not pronounced that way.
And is it really so difficult for English-speakers to say “Paree” instead of Paris?
Yeah, I know about entomologies that evolve due to the new explorers’ inability to prounounce the local language, but Sverige isn’t exactly new, and “Allemange” to “Germany” completely floors me.
There are many more place name that have annoyed me over the years but the gin seems to be affecting my brain right now…gee, imagine that 🙂
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### Author:  [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/11 "2000-05-30T17:00:50Z")
I finally got back to work where there are numerous SPanish language reference sources. In the “Enciclopedia Hispanica” (published by the same people who do Britannica), the article states that in Spanish, the continent was given the name “Antartida”, because cartographers in Spain thought it was somewhat similar to “Atlantida” (aka Atlantis). The article stated that it is only Spanish that uses this form of the word.
However, cmoreno states that Antartida is also the word in Portuguese. I couldn’t verify that because I couldn’t find an encyclopedia in Portuguese and even if I found one, I can’t read Portuguese, but only make WAGs.
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### Author:  [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/12 "2000-05-30T18:14:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Yeah, I know about entomologies that evolve due to the new explorers’ inability to prounounce the local language, but Sverige isn’t exactly new, and “Allemange” to “Germany” completely floors me.
Yup, and “Deutschland” to “Allemagne” knocks me for a loop. 🙂
Don’t know why some Spanish-speaking people say “Antartida” rather than “Antartica,” but Portugese-speaking Brazilians do NOT do this - they use “Antartica.” Here’s a [link](http://www.mar.mil.br/~secirm/ferraz/ferraz.htm) to a Brazilian military web site on Brazil’s station in Antarctica, just for grins. The Chileans also use “Antartica” - check this [site](http://www.magallanes-region.cl/) about Chile’s Antartic territory.
(Apologies for lack of appropriate accents in this post.)
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/13 "2000-05-30T18:49:19Z")
\>\> Yeah, I know about entomologies that evolve due to the new explorers’ inability to prounounce the local language
Now I am stumped… is this related to the six legged spider?
Regarding Allemagne, it is quite easy and has been explained many times. The Allemagnes were one of the tribes or ethnic groups that were part of what today is Germany. And the Italians call the Germans “Tedescos”. And Americans say England when they really mean Great Britain… Try going to Wales and saying “… because you the English…” I made that unfortunate mistake and was curtly told “Sir, I am Welsh!”
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/14 "2000-05-30T21:52:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> originally posted by sailor:
> Regarding Allemagne, it is quite easy and has been explained many times
including here, by Cecil Adams.
[Why are there so many names for Germany, AKA Deutschland, Allemagne, etc.?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_162.html)
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### Author:  [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2000, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/15 "2000-05-30T22:25:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Regarding Allemagne, it is quite easy and has been explained many times
Oops, I guess I should’ve used a different smilie… it just struck me as funny that sandyr was commenting on the Romance language version of the name of ONE of the old Germanic tribes to make his/her point about using the name that the natives chose.
Never mind, carry on…
::strolls away, whistling tunelessly::
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### Author:  [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/16 "2000-05-31T00:44:14Z")
\>\>\>\>\>\>\>There are many more place name that have annoyed me over the years but the gin seems to be affecting my brain right now…gee, imagine that 🙂
Etymology, yeah, that’s it!!!
The damn gin made me do it ☹
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### Author:  [@RadekPSK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadekPSK)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/17 "2017-10-24T01:13:43Z")
It’s actually quite simple.
The Arctic’s name is an adjective. That’s why we use the same word to say “the Arctic” but also “the Arctic Circle”. So the frozen continent in the south is supposed to be the “anti-Arctic”, but it’s not, is it? For some reason, they came up with a noun, instead of coining an adjective based on the word “Arctic”. Logically we should talk about “the Antarctic continent/shelf/ocean” and “the Antarctic” (if we wanted to keep both names similar).
But someone chose a noun for the south continent. Well, the noun cannot be -ic or -tic. We say “the Atlantic” but that’s also an adjective (“the Atlantic Ocean”). The same with “the Pacific”. And we know that the noun from which “Atlantic” derives is “Atlantida”.
Hence, the antarctic continent must be called “Antártida” in Portuguese and Spanish (“Antarctida” in English?). And maybe the northern area should be called “Ártida” (“Arctida” in English).
Of course, “America” is a noun, and ends in -ica. So maybe we can keep “Antarctica” in English, but then we’d have to change the other one to “Arctica”.
As it is, Spanish and Portuguese are correct because they show the difference between noun and adjective.
In Brazil I only ever heard “Antártida” unless someone were referring to the brand of beer or using as an adjective: “a península antártica”.
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### Author:  [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/18 "2017-10-24T16:22:19Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> including here, by Cecil Adams.
> [Why are there so many names for Germany, AKA Deutschland, Allemagne, etc.?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_162.html)
I love how the Slavic names for Germany all revolve around the root word for ‘mute’, I.e. “I don’t know what those people are saying, so I’ll assume it’s gibberish”.
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### Author:  [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/19 "2017-10-24T16:25:57Z")
Final ‘S’ in Latin often changes to D in Spanish (“libertas” becomes “libertad”, etc) so if you start from a pseudo-Latin “antarctis” then the D becomes totally logical.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-antartida-in-spanish/20806/20 "2017-10-24T16:36:48Z")
Does a 17-year old zombie have to be unfrozen before resurrecting?
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