What is the origin of the word güero

Güero, güera, güerita, güereja (o)... there are several ways in which those who have a shade of eyes, hair and/or fair skin are named. It is a word that is widely used in Mexico, however, despite the fact that it is used on a daily basis, most people do not know well where the term comes from.

The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) defines the 5 letters as a Mexican adjective used to describe a person who has blond hair, and adds that it is an “indigenous voice” that in times past was written “huero”.

Likewise, the Dictionary of Spanish in Mexico (DEM) of the Colegio de México describes it as a noun and adjective to speak of someone with “yellow hair or a similar shade”, the source points out that it is usually used to designate inhabitants of the north of the Republic, since there it is more common for the inhabitants to have such features.

Another interesting fact that the DEM adds is that it is not a term that is very strict in terms of its meaning, since it is also a “polite way to address a person (specifically by) a market or trinket seller to his customers: pass him guero, see what is offered to him!”

Most Mexicans have experienced episodes in their lives where they go to the market or the market and, regardless of the color of their skin or whether the physical characteristics of the people fit the definition or not, merchants refer to them as “güerito (a) s”.

In addition, the COLMEX dictionary adds that it can also have a connotation “rural, when it comes to eggs or fruits, it is usually something that is broken or hollow, for example: a palo güero”.

For his part, the linguist Arturo Morán explains that the Catalan philologist Joan Coromines was the one who argued that the term in question came from some indigenous American language, although he details that the researcher did not specify exactly which region it came from.

However, Morán points out that the true story goes back to very ancient times in the Iberian Peninsula, mainly in Spain, where “the verb to grow fat with the meaning of 'hatching the eggs'” was used. When an egg was hatched, it was not suitable for eating, for this reason it was called “fattened”, a word that soon became “holed” and later served to describe a spoiled egg.

From this “the word güero” was derived, which was explained in 1611 by the author Sebastián de Covarrubias as: 'güero is the corrupted egg from which no chicken comes out, and it is very smelly. ' But why did people begin to be said that way to light-toned people?

The same source explains that at that time when a woman had only one child and she was sick “pale, discolored, sad, shabby, and always tired looking”, it was common for her to complain that God had punished her by giving her a “güevo or güero”.

Then this condition became the subject of laughter and the word began to be used to mock those who looked emaciated or who became very ill, this means that “originally the güeros were pale people whom they compared to a spoiled egg”.

In fact, in Alcozar, a small Spanish town, the word still retains the meaning of ''discolorid''. On the other hand, güero began to be used in Mexico because of the different peninsular areas that arrived in the country after the Conquest.

At the time of the Colony it was common to hear expressions such as: ''Look, your son came out güero, not to mention he came out without color”. Over time the meaning changed and it was given a colloquial use to describe people who were not dark-skinned, in this way their meaning was transformed and the reference of the rotten egg was no longer used.

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