Home
Q&A
What is a sariuella?

What is a sariuella?

0
votes

What is a 'sariuella'? I live in Mexico and the dog where I live just killed a small animal which #from the little that I saw# looked like a rat but my friends say it is not a rat but a 'sariuella'. Can anyone please tell me what that is in English? Many thanks.

1604 views
updated Jun 3, 2011
edited by pesta
posted by Kirin
Edited to make it more IE-friendly. - pesta, Jun 3, 2011

5 Answers

2
votes

Most likely, zarigüeya misspelled. And since the word is not in the dictionary of this forum, it is an opossum.

updated Jun 3, 2011
edited by lazarus1907
posted by lazarus1907
0
votes

Is that a Spanish term? What's with the dots over the u?

Yes.

The two dots, known by the German term, "Umlaut," is called -"Dieresis" in Spanish. It is there to indicate that the "u" must be pronounced as a separate vowel. Otherwise, following the "G," it wouldn´t be pronounced at all.

updated Jun 3, 2011
edited by 005faa61
posted by 005faa61
... and diaeresis or dieresis in English! - lazarus1907, Jun 3, 2011
0
votes

Is that a Spanish term? What's with the dots over the u?

The dots tell you to pronounce the U, instead of just using a hard G. Normally a G in before an E or I would be soft. A G followed by a U would be hard, and the U wouldn't be pronounced, unless the dots are there. Here it means to say something like -gweh- instead of -geh-.

updated Jun 3, 2011
posted by KevinB
0
votes

Is that a Spanish term? What's with the dots over the u?

updated Jun 3, 2011
posted by brainlady
0
votes

As Lazarus said, zarigüella = opossum

alt text

updated Jun 3, 2011
posted by KevinB