The word ‘prime‘Maybe it doesn’t sound to you at all, even if you see her daily in words like Núñez, Castaño or even in the name of our country, Spain. The virgulilla is the name given to that undulating line that we see on top of the Lyrics ña letter that only exists in the Spanish alphabet and in some parts of Latin America. For foreigners it can even be a challenge to use it, as the letter W is for us.
That little wavy line that crowns the letter ñ has its history and, above all, its correct denomination, a mystery resolved by the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE). As he explained in his X profile, where he solves doubts about Spanish speakers with a touch of humor, that symbol can be called tilde or virgulilla.
With this clarification, they resolved a doubt that, although it seems trivial, generated confusion among many people. Is A unique line which indicates the intonation with which it must be pronounced when integrating into some word. In addition, in Tiktok, an explanatory video also uploaded in his profile to end the doubts of the name.
With videos or tweets like these, the Spanish institution makes an effort to reach the youngest public and thus offer linguistic information to all users of the platform who speak the Spanish language or are interested in knowing about the Spanish language. With these comments, such as when he explains how to write the ‘hahaha’, The RAE continues to fulfill its mission of keeping knowledge alive and accessible about the Spanish language for all users, regardless of their age or their relationship with the language. In this case, know the correct name of this tilde on the ñ so that users learn with property.
Origin of the virgulilla
This wavy line comes from the union of the double N (NN). And arose as an answer to a lack and difficulty at the time of writing. It has its origin in the Middle Ages, when the copyist monks, that is, the people who dedicated themselves to copying manuscripts, faced a great difficulty: the limited space in the scrolls and the need to write quickly. Therefore, they used abbreviations to save time and space in the parchment. Thus, they began applying the nasal sound of double N in the texts. However, this generated confusion among speakers. To solve this ambiguity, the copyists decided to incorporate a distinctive symbol on the letter N, to differentiate it from their duplicate and that is why it was decided to transform their stroke, including that line on an N.
But it was not until the arrival of Alfonso X the wise when the first spelling rules of our language have already been established, where the ñ and its use were already included. Although it was not until 1492 When with Antonio de Nebrija It was officially included in the Spanish alphabet.
A few years later, the indigenous peoples belonging at that time to the Spanish Empire adopted the ñ in their language. As in the Philippines, where he influenced speech and writing.
The ñ in the world
The ñ It was also adopted in some indigenous languages of the territories that belonged to Spain. In some Latin American countries, such as Mexico, Argentina or Colombia, the Ñ became a fundamental part of the language. Therefore, it is found in proper names and in the vocabulary of these regions. For example, in languages such as Quechua you can find words that include the ñ.
Today, the letter ñ supposes A challenge in globalization and digitalizationalthough there are many keyboards that include it inside, in some cases users must resort to key combinations to write the Ñ in tongues that do not include it in their alphabet. But if you lastly Carreño, in your mail you will not be able to put this letter. This has raised problems to preserve the correct spelling of words containing this letter.
