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LOANWORD CONFUSION
‘Armada’ Doesn’t Mean What You Probably Think It Means
Every British school pupil knows what the Armada is. Except they don’t really have the full story…
‘Armada’: the fleet deployed in 1588 by Philip II of Spain to invade England and depose Elizabeth I. Right?
Well, kind of. That’s certainly what it means in English, or at least in British English. And it is right up there with the Battle of Hastings, Dunkirk and the Charge of the Light Brigade in national mythmaking about the nation’s military prowess. Except for the fact that it was invaded in the first, forced to retreat in the second and slaughtered in the third…
But the British forces did really defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588, thwart the invasion and keep Good Queen Bess on the throne. Though the Spanish account emphasises the effect of the constant storms they encountered, more than the British naval defence:
“I sent my ships against men, not the elements,” as Philip II supposedly said.
So if the Spanish Armada was all done and dusted in 1588, how come it still has a website? Because in fact ‘la Armada Española’ just means the ‘the Spanish Navy’, and has done for centuries. Back in the days of the Counter-Reformation, when…
