English vs Spanish: Sendos


There are more words in English than in Spanish and in many ways English is also more versatile than several of the other languages currently in use around the world including Spanish, meaning for example that there are things that can only be said and understood under the parameters of that language and not another. Nevertheless, as there are expressions that are exclusive of English there are certainly words that only exist in each language and Spanish is no exception.
One such case is the word SENDOS that has no equivalent in English. Here is an example of its use:
Seis guerreros salieron del castillo llevando sendas espadas.
If translated into English the sentence would probably read as follows:
Six warriors came out of the castle and each one was wielding a sword. 
The word SENDOS (masculine) or SENDAS (feminine) is an adjective that when used indicates that the noun it modifies exists in equal number as another mentioned before in the same sentence. In the sentence we mention six warriors which means that there are also six swords. How do we know this? Thanks to the presence of the adjective SENDOS  which by the way is only used in plural (adjectives in Spanish have number and genre).
Curiously such a useful term is being slowly forgotten or misinterpreted as it is indicated by the image that accompanies this article. Apparently there are those who believe SENDOS is the same as LARGE and interpret the term that way, but that is only plain ignorance. 

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