refried beans [was: Re: Refrigerator]

On Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:06:04 +0200, Einde O'Callaghan
<einde.ocallaghan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>Bob Cunningham wrote:
>>  On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:15:37 +0200, Einde O'Callaghan
>> <einde.ocallaghan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> 
>>> Bob Cunningham wrote:
>>>> (Crossposted to alt.usage.english.)
>>>>
>>>>  On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:22:08 +0100, Frederick Williams
>>>> <frederick.williams2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote [in alt.languages.english]:
>>>>
>>>>> What is the significance of the prefix "re" in the word
"refrigerator"?
>>>> As you probably know, the prefix "re-" occurs in quite a few English
>>>> words where its meanings of "again, back" or "away" don't seem to
>>>> offer a satisfactory reason.
>>>>
>>> The fact that the current meaning of a word doesn't contain the
concept 
>>> of "again-ness" doesn't mean that it didn't originate from the latin 
>>> root meaning repitition. An example is the word "reduce" . Today there

>>> is no sense of repetition here but originally it did come from a Latin

>>> word meaning "to lead back".
>> 
>> But did Latin "refrigeratus" or "refrigerare" ever have any
>> connotation that could be inferred from any modern definition of
>> English "re-" besides intensification?
>> 
>According to the Online Etymology dictionary the Latin root meant 
>"mitigation of heat", particularly in the context of illness - i.e. 
>reduction of fever, in other words "making cool again".

That sounds good, but getting back to "refried" in "refried beans",
which is said to be a mistranslation of Spanish "refritos", which is
said to not mean "refried", but "fried well", it seems the
misconception is so widespread that it may outlast the correct
meaning.  As I've said in another posting, it seems possible that the
time may come when refried beans are really fried twice, because
people will have heard so persistently that they were fried twice that
they will have started frying them twice.

Googling on "refried beans" seems to come up with more statements that
"refried" in "refried beans" means "fried twice" than with
explanations of what really appears to be the true meaning, "fried
well".

As a further example of the widespreadness of the misconception, the
_Oxford Spanish Dictionary_ defines the Spanish adjective "refrito" as
    (a) (cocina) refried
    (b) (version/obra) rehashed

Incidentally, students who like mnemonics might like to think of the
meaning of "re-" in "frijoles refritos" as being sort of accidentally
equivalent to the English word "'re'ally", as in "*really* fried
beans".  In that context, the Spanish "re-" and the English "really"
are intensifiers.
-- 
Woody Wordpecker
Greater Los Angeles, California
USA
Western American English