Pulgarcito de América

Spanish

Etymology

Literally, “Americas' Little Thumb”, named so because El Salvador is the smallest country in the mainland of the Americas. Coined by Salvadoran Julio Enrique Ávila Villafañe in his speech titled El Salvador, Pulgarcito de América broadcasted on the RDN radio, on September 15, 1937 (Independence Day in El Salvador).^[1] The term is sometimes mistakenly attributed to Gabriela Mistral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /pulɡaɾˌθito de aˈmeɾika/ [pul.ɣ̞aɾˌθi.t̪o ð̞e aˈme.ɾi.ka]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /pulɡaɾˌsito de aˈmeɾika/ [pul.ɣ̞aɾˌsi.t̪o ð̞e aˈme.ɾi.ka]
• Syllabification: Pul‧gar‧ci‧to de A‧mé‧ri‧ca

Proper noun

Pulgarcito de América m

1. (colloquial) El Salvador

References

1. Carlos Cañas Dinarte (2024 May 11) “El migueleño que creó la frase "El Salvador, Pulgarcito de América"”, in El Diario de Hoy‎, archived from the original on 2024-09-08