14/07/2026
England play Argentina on Wednesday night. So, naturally, we started wondering how the Argentinians talk about their homes and found something rather nice.
The main language there is Spanish, and it turns out they do exactly what we do: they have one word for the building, and a different one for the home. Casa and hogar - just like our house and home.
What's lovely is where each language got that second word from.
Ours, “home”, comes from the Old English hām - meaning a settlement, a homestead. The place you’re from. The place you belong.
Theirs, hogar, comes from the Latin for hearth. The fireplace. So in Spanish, a home isn’t the place you belong - it’s the fire that everyone gathers round. (It’s where we get “focus” from, funnily enough. The fireplace was the thing the whole house was pointed at.)
On Wednesday evening, the focal point of the home won’t be the fireplace. It’ll be the telly - and for two hours, every room in the country will be pointed the same way.
Which makes both languages right at once. The place you belong, and the fire you all gather round.
We’ll look after the house. The home is your bit.
Come on England.
