Gringos

Gringo (male) or gringa (female) (/ˈɡrɪŋɡoʊ/, Spanish: [ˈɡɾiŋɡo], Portuguese: [ˈɡɾĩɡu]) is a term, mainly used in Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries, which may have different meanings depending on where it is used. In some Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, gringo refers to someone who is foreign and English-speaking, particularly someone from the United States, sometimes disparagingly.

The word was originally used in Spain to denote any foreign, non-native speakers of Spanish.

The word gringo was first recorded in Volume II of the Diccionario castellano con las voces de Ciencias y Artes y sus correspondientes en las 3 lenguas francesa, latina e italiana (Castilian Dictionary including the Words of the Sciences and the Arts, and their Correspondents in 3 Languages: French, Latin, and Italian, 1787), by Terreros y Pando, wherein it is defined as:

GRINGOS, llaman en Málaga a los extranjeros, que tienen cierta especie de acento, que los priva de una locución fácil, y natural Castellana; y en Madrid dan el mismo, y por la misma causa con particularidad a los irlandeses.

Gringos is what, in Malaga, they call foreigners who have a certain type of accent that prevents them from speaking Castilian easily and naturally; and in Madrid they give the same name, and for the same reason, in particular to the Irish.

The dominant view among etymologists is that gringo is most likely a variant of griego 'Greek' speech (cf. Greek to me).

A purported problem with this theory is that such usage of "gringo" in Spain had to do with peoples who originated in the eastern Mediterranean, rather than the northern European stock that dominated in the United States. However, the word gringo originated in Spain long before there was a Spanish-speaking Mexico and at one time, the word in Spain was often used to refer specifically to the Irish (at the time, the migrations known as Flight of the Wild Geese brought a constant stream of Irish exiles and mercenaries to Spain). And according to a 1787 dictionary, it often referred to someone who spoke Spanish poorly.

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