Tinto en lugar de Rojo

Question

Why is it "El vino tinto" and not "El vino rojo"?

Answer 1

En dos palabras...

Either adjective is simply a description of the appearance of the noun (in this case vino). The word tinto simply means deeply colored or stained and represents a clever description of the wine (as good as the word red anyway).

In English the word tinto signifies a "red Madeira wine, wanting the high aroma of the white sorts, and, when old, resembling tawny port."

Most of the time the "vino" is not necessary as in tinto Madeira or tinto porto

It is interesting to note that in Colombia tinto is slang for coffee.

I´m not sure if this answered your question fully, but I hope that it helped.

Lo siento por la palabrería.

• What were the "two" words?:-) - qfreed Aug 15, 2009
• "En dos palabras" is a colloquial expression, and it basically means "the long and short of it." - Izanoni1 Aug 15, 2009
• Thank you. I used "long story short" the other day and was wondering how to say it in Spanish. - qfreed Aug 17, 2009

Answer 2

Eric said

Help with this please

Eric

You obviously haven't read the rules. Please have a quick look before posting again. The link is below. I have altered your thread title to something more appropriate.

Rules and Guidelines

Answer 3

Eric,

Surely you don't want me to write several pages of things that don't make sense in English, right? Red wine, for starters, is not red!!! And i know it, because right now I am drinking a glass of wine, and it looks black to me, not red (fair enough, it is red if you spill a bit over a white background, but not in the glass). The word "tinto" meant in Latin "submerged in a liquid", and from there, "dyed", "inked" (I know, it is not standard).

Lo siento para la respuesta tan palabrera.

You feel it and you want to give it to the "palabrera"? "Para" is used to indicate who benefits or receives something; "por" is used to give reasons, like why do you feel sorry, for example.

• I guess that one fizzled. Chalk it up to Gringo Spanglish - Izanoni1 Aug 15, 2009

Answer 4

I sure wont open my mouth again till I am told otherwise

That reaction is probably a bit excessive. Nonetheless, it is a difficult subject to discuss (especially across language borders). Personally, I tend to talk about wine in French (or using English translations of the French terms). However, as Lazarus pointed out, many of the "standard" terms are rather "fanciful". They are sanctioned by usage but not always descriptive.

"tinto" is, obviously related to the English word "tincture" (meaning "dye"/"stain" and "taint") and doesn't really say much about how dark the colour (for our British friends) is.

Answer 5

Well hey people I am sorry, I sure wont open my mouth again till I am told otherwise

Answer 6

[I was wrong]