[Gocamino] Literal meaning of "Camino"

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hi Ruby,
The word "Camino" cannot really be translated into English. Not by me.
While it may be a noun, it is also the conjugated first person singular of the verb to "to walk", but it has connotations and nuances beyond its letters.
"Yo camino", "Eu caminho", "Io cammino", all mean "I walk" in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Also, because in those languages the conjugated verb changes according to its noun, the noun is omitted more often than not, therefore ?'"camino" "caminho" "cammino" all mean "I walk"?. With (or without) a preceding article those verbs are also nouns by themselves:? El Camino, O Caminho, Il Cammino.
The French verb, marcher, is better translated as "to march" ("marchar" in Spanish) which means in Latin to walk "in step".? I wonder why.
Anyway,? the noun Camino does not necessarily mean "journey" in Spanish, that would be ?"caminata" which implies a?defined beginning and end. And what in English would be?"a walk"?would be referred to as a "paseo" in Spanish.
The verb/noun "Camino" in its substantial form means "going to", "moving towards", or something like it.? In the Divine Comedy there is a passage where the devil is tempting?a soul by calling it to himself?saying: "cammina, cammina" (to me, to me).
Pope John XXIII was very pleased when people called him "Il camminante", the walker, ?(he used to like to walk at all hours everywhere in Rome and its environs), and he once referred to life as one step in "Il cammino".

This is the best I can do.? (I'm not a good translator); ?perhaps Robert ?Spencer with his love of words and impressive erudition can do better than I.

Hugs!

Rosina





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