Letter: Language can be tangled puzzle (Feb. 8, 2023)

Editor:

Thanks to Roberta McKern for her always-interesting stories from our museum.

I had wondered for decades why “Lyma” Ohio, but “Leema” Peru. I found out, when I went to Peru in the 1990s. 

The Spanish conquistadores asked the locals what they called the nearby river.

“Rimac,” they responded.

Well, Spaniards use a rolled ‘r’ and didn’t catch the “r” that we Americans now use. So the Spaniards heard “Lima” because they also missed the…

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