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ArchivesRe: The name Zinora meaning?
in reply to a message by SaveUkraine111
This is fairly certainly a variant of “Senora” which comes, unsurprisingly, from the Spanish word “Señora” (originally meaning lady of high or noble birth.) This has been used as a name in countries with Spanish influence for some time. Harry Belafonte’s song “Jump in the Line” is about a woman bearing this name. The fact that the name appears in Trinidadian Creole further solidifies this theory. The first colonizers to arrive on the island were Spanish speaking and remnants of the language persist.
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Not sure, Spanish usually does not confuse the letters S and Z.
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Actually I speak Spanish and have lived in Spain. S and Z are only pronounced differently in Spain. In the Caribbean, Central and South America, and in the Philippines Z and S are pronounced exactly the same.
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Though I do NOT necessarily think this supports a derivation of the Trinadian name from "Senora", it is very true that S and Z are usually pronounced the same in many Latin American dialects of Spanish, and that this often leads to respellings where one replaces the other. I have seen many examples of Hispanic Americans using spellings like Jezzica for Jessica.
This message was edited 3/13/2023, 7:24 PM
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