The rains in December & January were something else.
Adsubia and the Vall de la Gallinera were drenched for days, with water cascading down every hillside, turning roadside ditches into mini-rivers.
(And turning the usually dry rivers into actual rivers!)
One morning, I set out for Pego as usual, planning to drop by Piensos Garrigós for my chicken feed (plus a few treats for my two dogs) when I noticed a sudden lake in the middle of the road.
It seemed the local river had decided to take a detour.
I spotted a neighbour snapping photos of the flooded path and pulled over.
“¿Sabes cómo puedo llegar a Pego?” I asked, hopefully.
She shrugged. “Está chungo,” she said, matter-of-factly.
I had no clue what “chungo” meant, but I had that all-too-familiar pang of embarrassment creeping in. Smiling and nodding as though I totally understood, I quickly thanked her and scurried off.
Better to pretend competence sometimes, right?
“Chungo” A New Word With Romani Roots!
At first, I thought she’d said chumbo, which I knew was Spanish for prickly pear.
Confusing, right?
But once I got home, I looked up chungo and uncovered an incredibly interesting linguistic journey!
Apparently the etymological journey of “chungo” begins in Sanskrit with the word “jungati” meaning outcast or condemned. This word formed part of the ancient Romani language as the Romani people spread through into Europe.
What a long journey for this tiny linguistic traveller!
I was thrilled to learn there’s a Spanish slang word with roots tracing all the way back to India. It’s like peeling back layers of an onion—every new word reveals centuries of history, spanning continents and cultures.
Chungo can be used to say something is dodgy, tricky, messed up or just plain bad news. That neighbour’s succinct response basically meant “It’s a mess,” or “You’re out of luck”—the road was impassable.
But rather than despair, I felt a giddy sense of pride.
I’d stumbled upon a piece of slang that so many learners don’t catch right away, something that might help me sound just a bit more local when chatting with neighbours in future. Except this time I won’t just smile and nod…I’ll understand!
Other Romani Words in Spanish
And chungo is just one example.
Spanish has sprinkled in a fair amount of Romani influence over the centuries. Here are a few more common words:
- Chaval – boy, kid
- Molar – to like something a lot (“Me mola”)
- Chachi – great, fantastic (often used in “¡Chachi!”)
It’s fascinating stuff—especially when, in an earlier post, I was marvelling at all the Moorish (Arabic) influences in Spanish.
It’s such a testament to how “mad” (and marvellous) this language can be.
From the sands of the Middle East to the plains of India, so many cultures have left their mark on the Spanish spoken today—even in a tiny village like Adsubia. And here I am, huddled over my dictionary, discovering it all one word at a time.
Now if only the rain would let up so I can get to Pego without running into any more chungo roads!
