I know the Spanish word for weblogs is bitácoras, but do any other lanuguages have their own word for weblog? And if so, what's the etymology?
I heard that bitácora roughly means captain's log. (¿diario de navegación?) I'm not much of a Spanish speaker, but looking at my Spanish-English dictionary, I'm wondering why they don't use the word corredera instead...which also seems to have a nautical connotation. I bet that's a silly question to a native Spanish speaker, but I can't find bitácora (in it's earlier sense) anywhere in my dictionary.
Update: I wish my Spanish was better. It sounds like this post on Tremendo discusses why they use that term over others, but I can't quite make it all out. The babelfish translation isn't so hot, but it helps. The origin of the word is from the latin habitaculum: a case that protects a compass. (The English equivalent is binnacle. When was the last time you heard that used in coversation?) I guess they also translated Star Trek's captain's log into bitácora...so maybe it became associated more with futuristic technology than seafaring technology. But it's interesting to think about weblogs as a tool for navigating the web—pointing the way; and the format itself as a container for those directions.
I heard that bitácora roughly means captain's log. (¿diario de navegación?) I'm not much of a Spanish speaker, but looking at my Spanish-English dictionary, I'm wondering why they don't use the word corredera instead...which also seems to have a nautical connotation. I bet that's a silly question to a native Spanish speaker, but I can't find bitácora (in it's earlier sense) anywhere in my dictionary.
Update: I wish my Spanish was better. It sounds like this post on Tremendo discusses why they use that term over others, but I can't quite make it all out. The babelfish translation isn't so hot, but it helps. The origin of the word is from the latin habitaculum: a case that protects a compass. (The English equivalent is binnacle. When was the last time you heard that used in coversation?) I guess they also translated Star Trek's captain's log into bitácora...so maybe it became associated more with futuristic technology than seafaring technology. But it's interesting to think about weblogs as a tool for navigating the web—pointing the way; and the format itself as a container for those directions.