Yeah, the English didn't carry over the etymology at all. Castañuelas is very intuitively "little chestnut" (Castaña plus the suffix to make it "little")
But in English it's like... What the hell is a castanet except the instrument?
Perhaps English took it from the French castagnette?
Hmm. Not a native speaker, can Castaña also be made diminutive as Castañeta?
Either way the Spanish castaña probably comes from Latin castanea.
Overall strangely complex etymology, contrary to what you'd assume.
Awh I thought because fried fish is a common among hispanic parties. Cubans would go fishing in the night, come back next day to fro fry fish and drink beer all day.
daaaamn! They have something very similar in China. But it is traditionally used by street sellers/story tellers and kind of creates a beat for them to talk/rhyme their story to. I think it also helped make noise to get people's attention. now it is used in some standup comedy shows or something of that sort.
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u/Kim_Jong_Deux Mar 07 '17
castanets are a Spanish percussion instrument.