In addition to the article on punctuation already published in the post "Punctuation I", there are other signs that are explained below.

1. Rules for use of ellipsis

Ellipses are used in various cases:

To leave a list open; it has the same meaning as the word ‘etcetera’ or its abbreviation ‘etc.’ (and so on):

• En el parque hay árboles, estanques, niños… (The park has trees, ponds, children ...)

When a phrase is not finished, because the listener knows the ending, as we often do with proverbs:

• Ande yo caliente…(ríase la gente) "As long as I feel warm ... (let people laugh at me)"

To express hesitation or wavering:

• “Quería preguntarte…” (I wanted to ask you...)

To suggest, preventing their reproduction, taboo words or inappropriate expressions:

• “Vete a la m…, esta vez te has pasado.” (where ‘m ...’ stands for “mierda”, i.e. ‘shit’)

It is sometimes used to provoke suspense:

• “De pronto se oyó un ruido y…” (Suddenly there was a noise and ...)

2. Rules for use of hyphen / dash

A dash (-) is used for various situations. According to the RAE it can serve the purpose of linking names or adjectives.

I. In the case of proper names it is used:

When two first names come together, to separate them and avoiding confusion with the surname:

• Antonio – Marcos

To establish different circumstantial relationships between names:

• “Hubo un acuerdo franco-español.” (There was a Franco – Spanish agreement.)

II. In the case of nouns the hyphen is used:

To establish relationships between concepts, which can be fixed (“kilómetros-hora”, i.e. kilometers per hour) or situational (“conversaciones Gobiero-sindicatos”, i.e. government-union talks).

To join two nouns with the same referent:

• El director –coordinador de la cadena…(The director-coordinator of the chain.)

III. When it comes to adjectives, the hyphen is used:

To join two gentiles (gentilic adjectives):

• “Las relaciones germano-francesas.” (German-French relations)

When two adjectives are applied or connected to a noun, for example:

• “Son clases teórico-prácticas.” (Lessons are theoretical – practical).

IV. The hyphen is also used in other circumstances, such as:

To relate two dates:

• Guerra Civil (1936 – 1939) (Civil War)

To cut out words at the end of the line:

• Ca-sa, me-sa… (House, Tish)

In this case we must take into account some general rules like:

- A vowel can never be alone at the end of the line. (“Ami-go”, not “a-migo”)

- The "ll", "rr" and "ch" are never split. (“po-llo”, not “pol – lo”)

- Monosyllables, acronyms and abbreviations are not separated. (“si”, never “s-i”)

3. Rules for using parentheses

The parentheses are used in cases such as:

When stopping a statement to isolate clarifications which are inserted in the sentence itself:

• “Mis amigos (Angel y Gloria) vienen esta tarde a casa.” (My Friends (Angel and Gloria) are coming home this afternoon)

To collate data, dates, pages, provinces ...

• “Todos los niños vinieron de Madrid (España)" = All children came from Madrid (Spain)
• “Esta poesía se puede leer en Quevedo (página 40)" = This poem can be read in Quevedo (page 40)

To enclose in a play, the explanations of the author or the actions of the characters:

• "Bernarda. (Pounding her cane on the floor). You can’t possibly beat me! "(García-Lorca Bernarda [Esp 1936]).

To translate foreign words:

• Keep in mind the "Carpe diem" (live now)

4. Rules for using quotation marks

We may use speech marks:

To play quotes:

• My sister said, "We´ll be seeing you tomorrow."

To name titles of books, articles, books, ...

• Valle - Inclan wrote “El tragaluz” (‘Skylight’)

To enclose in a narrative work, texts which reproduce directly the thoughts of the characters:

• "He could even curse in Latin, the scoundrel!”, "thought the father" (RAE)

To show that a word is inappropriate, vulgar or from another language:

• He said the restaurant was very "chic".

Single speech marks are used to frame the meanings:

• The word restaurant comes from French "restaurant" which means "restorative."

In the Manuel Seco´s Spanish dictionary “Diccionario de dudas y dificultades de la lengua española” we can find the following descriptions of these two verbal tenses.

Simple Past (canté /I sang): We use this tense to express a past action that has ended at a specific time in the past.

Present Perfect (he cantado /I have sung): We use this tense to express an action happened at an unspecified time before now or an action that is related in some way to the present.

1. Difference between the Simple Past or the Present Perfect

After Wikipedia the Simple Past refers to an action considered ended. It is applied to actions tha have been completed in the past that do not have to be necessarily related to the present. These are some examples:

• Ayer comí manzanas. (Yesterday I ate apples).
• La guerra terminó hace tres meses. (The war ended three months ago).
• Los ladrones entraron en casa. (The thieves entered at home).
• Tú estuviste en el cine. (You went to the cinema).

On the other hand the Present Perfect expresses that there is a relation or conection between the action and the present situation, beeing this relation temporal or subjective. This tense is frequently used when speaking in the Spanish Peninsula excepting the following Spanish regions: Asturias, León and Galicia. In these regions and in the Canary Islands the use of this tense is uncommon, less used, only as a supercorrect form of the Simple Past, the preferred form. Some examples:

• He comido manzanas. (I have eaten apples).
• La guerra ha terminado. (The war has ended).
• Los ladrones han entrado en casa. (The thieves have entered at home).
• Tú has estado en el cine. (You have been to the cinema).

2. How to conjugate the Present Perfect

This tense is conjugated with the present form of the auxilliary verb “haber” and the participle of the verb that is going to be used, for example:

• Yo he comido.
• Tú has venido.
• Él/Ella ha estado aquí.
• Nosotros hemos ido al cine.
• Vosotros habéis visto la película.
• Ellos/Ellas han escrito un cuento.

3. When to use the Simple Past and the Present Perfect

For using the correct tense you have to consider the speaker´s point of view, in other words, the temporal distance between the actions that it is being talked about and the importance given to the action by the person who is talking.

On the other hand, it is a rule to use perfect forms and no simple ones when talking about an action that has happened immediately before now (“He comprado patatas” and not “compré patatas”). We have already said that in some regions it is preferred to use the simple form.

No obstante, es norma general que para acciones inmediatamente anteriores al momento en el que se está hablando se usen las formas compuestas y no las simples. (“He comprado patatas” y no “compré patatas”). Aunque ya hemos comentado anteriormente que en algunas regiones de la Península Ibérica prefieren el uso de la forma simple, en vez de la compuesta.

4. Adverbs and time complements used which each tense

Normally as rule when some time complements are used like “hoy” (today), “esta mañana” (this morning), “esta tarde” (this afternoon), etc., the Present Perfect has to be used, for example:

• Hoy he ido al supermercado.
• Esta tarde he visto a mi hermana.
• A la tarde has estado en el bar.

With the Simple Past time complements like “ayer” (yesterday), “antes de ayer” (the day before yesterday), “el otro día” (the other day), “el año pasado” (last year), etc. are used. For example:

• Ayer fui al supermercado.
• Antes de ayer vi a mi hermana.
• El otro día estuviste en el bar.

Two of the most common verb tenses to refer to the past in Spanish (though not the only ones) is the Past Perfect Simple and the Imperfect Past. Both serve the same purpose to recount past actions, with little connection to the present:

The Present Perfect Simple, often featuring irregular forms ("yo fui”," tú hiciste"...) is often preferred for specific actions, the inchoate and perfective aspect of the verb, events or actions completed in the past, sometimes with durative aspect, unrelated to the current situation.

The Imperfect also refers to the past ("nosotros teníamos", "vosotros escuchabais" ...) but often highlights the continuative aspect of the verb, without regard to its completion. The actions described in this tense extend over a certain period of time.

Let’s take a simple example with two distinct meanings:

• “No conocía a nadie en la fiesta”, (Pretérito Imperfecto) means I couldn´t find any acquientances at the party
• “No conocí a nadie en la fiesta”, (Pretérito Perfecto Simple) means I didn´t actually make any acquientances at all there.

The difference is not always so marked:

• “No hice nada malo,” points to a particular point in the past, with no connection to the present. The interest is in the result.
• “No hacía nada malo,” displays the continuative aspect of the verb, which may well extend up to the present. The interest is the process rather than the result

The rules of use of these tenses are very consistent throughout the Spanish-speaking community, and although there are very specific, even subjective, uses, the best thing to do is pay attention to the time markers which often collocate with either tense.

With Present Perfect Simple: “ayer”, “anoche”, “el año pasado”, “hace mucho”…

With Imperfect: “(casi) siempre”, “normalmente”, “cuando era pequeño/-a”, “a veces”…

When we tell stories, we often combine both tenses, reserving the Past Perfect Simple to report the event itself and the Imperfect to describe the circumstances surrounding. The trend in journalistic language is to use the Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto instead of the Pretérito Perfecto Simple, thus taking us closer to the news, highlighting its impact on the present.

• “El accidente ocurrió cuando se dirigía de vuelta a casa.” ("The accident happened on his way back home.")
• “El accidente se ha producido mientras conducía de vuelta a casa.” ("The accident occurred while driving back home.")

In Spanish, as in other languages, punctuation is an important feature of written language. Using punctuation is a means of making up for the lack of intonation typical of speech. There are different punctuation marks; among others: period, comma, colon and semicolon.

1. Usage Rules for the period

The period is a mark that is used to close parts of speech that make sense in themselves, for example:

• “Cuando fui a la playa me bañé en el mar.”

Within the same paragraph, periods are used to separate sentences that are related to each other, ie. they develop the same idea, for example:

• “Cuando fui a la playa me bañé en el mar. El agua estaba muy fría.”

Periods are also used at the end of a paragraph. A paragraph is a unit of thematic meaning and a new paragraph after a period marks the development of a new idea.

• “Cuando fui a la playa me bañé en el mar. El agua estaba muy fría.

Más tarde, cuando vino mi amiga nos fuimos a comer un helado al bar.”

2. Rules for using the comma.

There are some general rules for using the comma; it can be used:

• To isolate the vocative occurring in statements: "Luchad, niños, hasta ganar"
• To separate the words of an enumeration: " La gula, la lujuria, la ira, son pecados capitales."
• To separate very short meaningful sentences: " Llegué, comí, me marché"
• To separate some clarification or explanation from the rest of the sentence: " El niño, que tenía el pelo negro, tocaba la guitarra"
• To separate such expressions as “es decir”, “por último”, “esto es” … " Por último, me metí a la cama"
• To show that a verb is missing: " Unos van al cine; otros a la playa"

The Spanish Royal Academy gives more guidance for using commas:

• Interjections are written between commas: "Bah, no me interesa"
• Commas are used before conjunctions or conjunctive phrases that link sentences included in a compound sentence, such as “pero”, “aunque”, “sino”, “con que”, “así que”, “de manera que”… ("Dijiste que venías, así que no digas ahora que no.")
• The word etcetera (or its abbreviation etc.) is separated by a comma from the rest of the statement: "Los helados de vainilla, chocolate, etcétera, me encantan".
• The use of the comma is incompatible with the conjunctions “y”, “e”, “ni”, “o”, “u” when the sign is used to separate elements of the same series or grammatically equivalent members within the same sentence: "Compré pan, tomate, y sal"
• But commas are acceptable before these conjunctions when the sequence at the top of the predicate refers to all this, and not the last of its members coordinated: "Compré pan, tomate, sal, y salí de la tienda".
• Commas are most useful in compound sentences for two reasons: length and complexity. If we take relative sentences, commas must be used in those labeled as “non-defining” or “not restrictive” (“Los aviones, que estaban averiados, no pudieron despegar”); “defining” also called “restrictive” relative sentences never feature commas (“Los aviones que estaban averiados no pudieron despegar.”)

More rules on the use of the comma can be found in http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltConsulta?lema=coma

3. Rules for using the colon.

This punctuation mark is used to enter a sentence in cases such as:

• Before a direct quote: The child said, El niño dijo: " Quiero ir a los columpios"
• Before a list: "Hace falta: manzanas, peras, alubias y tomates"
• Before an explanation: "Era una casa enorme: tenía dos balcones, un jardín, una piscina y una chimenea".

4. Rules for using the semicolon.

The semicolon is used in several cases:

• To separate sentences containing commas: " Llegaron los abuelos, los niños y los padres; se quedaron hasta las siete"
• Before the conjunctions “mas”, “pero”, “aunque”... If the sentence is long: "Todo en el mundo es difícil; aunque difícil es nuestro mundo."
• When used to summarize: " Los gritos, los lloros y los nervios; todo me hace ver que es el primer día de clase."
• To separate juxtaposed sentences: " Tendremos que marcharnos; la tienda cierra."

For more on punctuation wait for a next post.

Spanish is the common language in Spain but there are other languages spoken in some regional areas. In regions, such as Cataluña, Galicia or the Basque Country, both Spanish and the regional language are official languages. Even though the number of bilingual speakers in Bilbao is growing, Spanish is still the most widespread, it is know by everyone and used by the vast majority of the population in everyday life.

As for the variant of Spanish spoken in Bilbao, it is remarkable the way people neatly articulate each vowel of every word, with the only exception of participles ending in – "ado", which never fail to drop the “d” and lose one syllable: "comprao" instead of “comprado”(bought); "Olvidao" instead of olvidado (forgotten)

At grammatical level, the language in Bilbao meets morpho-syntactic standards and it is free of examples of “laismo” and “loismo”, so prevalent in Castilla and La Mancha. There is only a remarkable misuse of tenses in conditional sentences involving the imperfect conditional, which is replaced with a conditional:

• "Si sabría la respuesta te la diría" (If I would know the answer I would tell you) instead of "Si supiera la respuesta te la diría" (If I would know the answer I would tell you)

This also refers to the past perfect:

• "Si habrían sabido la verdad te lo habrían dicho" (If they would have known the answer they would have told you) instead of "Si hubieran sabido la verdad te lo habrían dicho" ('If they had known the answer they would have told you...')

But the highlight of Spanish spoken in Bilbao is the very intonation and rhythm of all oral exchanges, the clarity of diction and superb correction.

At a socio-linguistic level, there are also peculiarities of the speech in Bilbao. The most important (shared by all the Basque Country) is the restricted use of formal ways of addressing involving 'usted' (only used in the Tourism and Hospitality industry). The use of 'tu' is widespread in the whole Basque Country, which makes daily communication easier for foreigners.

In Spanish, as in most Indo-European languages except English, gender is a purely arbitrary feature of with nouns. Those concepts representing animate beings tend to have natural sex, although this is not the case in many names of animals, where the feminine is often used to refer to both sexes: mosca (fly), araña (spider), culebra (snake), pantera (panther), ballena (whale), cebra (zebra), jirafa (giraffe) ...

The words that represent inanimate concepts are always assigned to one of the two genders (male or female), which gives evidence of the totally arbitrary nature of this assignment: there is no reason why we label “cajón" (‘drawer’) as masculine and "torre” (‘tower’) as female, and there are abundant examples of differences with other languages in our area: the ‘moon’ (la luna) is masculine in German, ‘pain’ (el dolor) is feminine in French, ‘blood’ (la sangre) is feminine in Italian ...

Gender, like the number, is relevant from a grammatical point of view due to the agreement rules between the noun and all referring determiners, adjectives and pronouns.

Focusing on form, there are, of course, certain patterns for words of one type or another.

Typically masculine endings:

• -o, eg “amigo” (‘friend’), “perro” (‘dog’), “libro” (‘book’), “viento” (‘wind’)… 


• -or, eg “amor” (‘love’), “calor” (‘heat’), “color” (‘colour’), “sabor” eg. (‘taste’); exception: la flor (flower) 


• -aje, eg. “coraje” (‘courage’), “viaje” (‘travel’)… 


• -an, eg. “capitán” (‘captain’)

There are, however, a number of masculine nouns ending in -a: “poeta” (‘poet’), “tema” (‘subject’), “problema” (‘problem’), “día” (‘day’), “mapa” (‘map’) ...

Typically feminine endings:

• -a, eg “vena” (‘vein’), “casa” (‘house’), “mesa” (‘table’), “corbata” (‘tie’) 
• --dad, -tad and -ed 
 eg “honestidad” (‘honesty’), “mitad” (‘half’), “red” (‘net’)

• -ción, -sión, -zón, 
 eg “nación” (‘nation’), “pasión” (‘passion’), “razón” (‘reason’); notable exception: el corazón (‘heart’) 


• -dez or -iz, eg “honradez” (‘honesty’), “nariz” (‘nose’)

There are also numerous examples of feminine nouns ending in -o: “soprano”, “radio”, “mano” (‘hand’)… 


Some nouns take the same form for both genders: eg.: el/la atleta (‘athlete’), el/la policía (‘police officer’), el/la joven (‘youth’), el/la modelo (‘model’)…

This happens in words ending in -ista 
 (“artista”, “capitalista”...) and in -nte (“cantante” - singer, “amante” -lover ...)

In the plural, it is interesting to note that the masculine form is used to refer to both sexes: “el padre + la madre = los padres” (father + mother = parents). However, the obsession of our public representatives for political correctness often ignores this feature of our language and generates such redundant terms as "Españoles y españolas", "Ciudadanos y ciudadanas” (‘citizens’), "Trabajadores y trabajadoras" (‘workers’), and the like .

Although augmentative suffixes are not as widely used as diminutives in Spanish, Spaniards have a taste for exaggeration and they often make use of such devices.

According to the Royal Academy of Language, these suffixes “increase the magnitude of the meaning of the term to which it binds."
Augmentatives in our language are formed by adding a suffix at the end of each word (in the same way as diminutives).

They are usually added to the noun (“jarra” – “jarrrón”, i.e. ‘vase’) and more rarely used in an adjective (“guapo” – “guapetón”, i.e. ‘handsome’)

The variation of meaning added by the suffix does not always have to do with an increase in size, and it sometimes names a new concept. Thus, a "sillón" (‘armchair’) is not exactly a big chair. "Cabezón" and "cabezota" can both refer to a big head or a stubborn person, but we probably prefer the former for "big head" and the latter to describe a character trait. "Colchón" (‘mattress’) has little to do with "colcha” (a kind of quilt). "Culebrón" (‘soap opera’) does not have much to do with “culebra” (‘snake’). A “ratón” (‘mouse’) is not a big “rata” (‘rat’), but rather the opposite.
Augmentative suffixes may take different forms:

1. the suffix “-ion” is the most recognized and used among speakers. Sometimes it simply intends to reflect the greater size or importance of an object: “viento” (‘wind’) – “ventarrón” (‘very strong wind’). At other times it takes pejorative connotations, as in “barrigón” (‘pot-bellied’), “narigón” (‘big nosed’ ...)

2. "-Ote" :is another common form of augmentative suffix: “macho” (‘male’) – “machote”.

3. "–Azo" "-aza", "-tazo", "-taza". These suffixes are routinely used in many nouns to mark their size or importance. There are several examples like: “golpe”(‘blow’)-“golpazo” (‘wallop’); “barca” (‘boat’) - “barcaza”; (‘barge’) “harto” (‘fed up’) -“hartazo”…
In many cases the connotation is pejorative (and their forms are always plural), like “calzonazos” (man too condescending), “manazas” (very clumsy person) ...

A very frequent use of such suffixes is meant to describe actions produced by the objects mentioned. An “escobazo” is a kind of blow involving a broom (“escoba”); we can use other weapons, such as ‘heels’ (“taconazo”), ‘hands’ (“manotazo”), ‘fists’ (“puñetazo”), ‘gloves’ (“guantazo”), ‘penknives’ (“navajazo”)…

There are other less productive suffixes, such as "-acho" / "- acha" (“ricacho” – ‘filthy rich’), " - rron "/"-rrona"(“nubarrón” – ‘nasty cloud’), "-icon "/" – icon” (“bobalicón” – ‘goofy’) , "-etón "/"-etona " (“guapetón” - handsome), "-ton” / "- tona" (“bigotón” – ‘big-moustached) (Wikipedia)
Many of them are used in a pejorative or derogatory way, like “solterona” (‘spinster’, ‘old maid’) “padrastro” (‘stepfather’), “latinajo” (‘dog Latin’), “gentuza” (‘rabble’, ‘riff-raff’), “animalejo” (‘wretched animal or beast’), “casuca” (‘wretched little house’ or ‘hovel’), “larguirucho” (‘lanky’), “bicharraco” (‘creepy-crawly’)…

According to the Spanish Royal Academy of Language (RAE) diminutives are "suffixes denoting a reduction in size in the selected object (“piedrecita” – ‘pebble’) or charged with emotional intent (“Vaya nochecita” – ‘What an awful night!’).”

Although its use is mostly associated with children, it extends to women’s speech and is also used by men, perhaps not when addressing other men, but when communicating with children or women.

Generally, as described in the RAE, the derivation of words by means of diminutives adds information about either the smallness of the concept (“panecillo” – ‘bun’; “cucharilla” – ‘teaspoon’ ...) or has to do with emotional motivation, regardless of its size. Such is the case of:

• “chiquirritín” (‘tweeny-weeny’)
• pobrete (poor devil)
• fresquito (nice and cool)
• viejecito (a dear old man)
• sentadito (delicately seated)

In some cases, however, the use of certain diminutives serves to name new concepts, as shown in the following examples.

• silla (chair) - sillín (saddle)
• bolsa/bolso (bag) - bolsillo (pocket)
• paso (step) - pasillo (corridor)
• lentes (glasses) – lentillas (contact lenses)
• espina (thorn, fishbone) –espinilla (pimple)

In the Spanish language there are numerous diminutives which involve adding a suffix to the end of words: their use varies depending on the word and dialect area. They are most frequently added to a noun, but they may also appear with an adjective (“pequeñín” – ‘very little’) and, more rarely, to an adverb (“ahorita” – ‘right now’).

The most common derivational suffixes in Spanish are:

• -ito, -ita (and its variants –cito, - ecito, -ecita).
• -ico, -ica
• -illo, -illa
• -ete, -eta
• - in, -ina
• -uco, -uca

1) -ito,-ita: it is the most common suffix among Spanish speakers. Examples: "pequeñito", "pequeñita" ('little one').This suffix has several variants, such as cito (“jardincito”- ‘little garden’ instead of “jardinito”), –ecito, -ecita (“lucecita” – ‘wee light’ instead of “lucita”).

2) -ico,-ica: this is a very common suffix in areas of eastern Andalusia, La Mancha, Aragon, Navarra, Murcia and West Valencia.
Examples: "perrico" ('little doggie'), "ratico" ('a wee while').

3) -illo,-illa: Its use is very common in Andalusia and does not usually have emphatic or emotional connotations, unlike the suffix -ito, -ico.

4) -ete,-eta, is widely used in Asturias, Extremadura, Castille Leon, Andalusia and La Mancha: "amiguete" ('chum')

5) -in,-ina: Its use is very common especially in Asturias, Extremadura, Castille Leon and Western Andalucia: "pelín" ('trifle'). It is sometimes added to other diminutives such as "poco" - "poquito" - "poquitín" (‘a little bit’)

6) -uco,-uca. Cantabria is where this is most used: "playa" - "playuca" (‘little beach’) "casa" - "casuca" (‘hut’)

In Spanish, like in other languages, there are linguistically identical words, which have a single origin but different nuances, and retain the same morphological and syntagmatic function.

This is what we call polysemy. This term comes from Greek ‘polusemous’ [poly- (many) + sema (sign)]

Some examples of such words are:

• “Sirena” (from Latin ‘siren’), which may refer to ‘mermaid’ or to ‘siren’ (a device for making a loud warning noise)

• “Banco” (from old Fr. ‘bank’): which might mean ‘bench’ (a kind of seat), a shoal fish, or a bank ...

• “Cup” (from Lat. ‘Cuppa’): either a drinking glass or the top of a tree ...

• “Sierra” (from Lat. ‘Serra’).: a ‘saw’ (a tool for cutting wood), but also a mountain ‘range’ ...

• “Cola” (from Vulgar Lat. ‘Coda’): may mean ‘tail’, the rear end of something, or a ‘queue’ (people standing in line)

There are also polysemic words that vary in meaning depending on their gender, for example:

• El capital (money) -- La capital (city)

• El cura (the priest) – La cura (the cure)

• El cometa (comet) – La cometa (kite)

Another phenomenon is called homonymy. A homonym is a word that is written and pronounced the same way as another, but which has a different meaning.

A clear example is the Spanish word 'vino':

• 'Vino': simple past form of the verb ‘venir’ (he/she/it came) or ‘wine’ (a drink). This is a case of a homonym, not a polysemy, since the verb 'vino' comes from the Latin verb "venit", while “vino” ('wine') comes from Latin "vinum".

Homonyms include two types of words: homographs and homophones.

• Homographs are homonyms and they share the same spelling, like 'vino'.

• Homophones are words with a different spelling but the same sound, for example, ‘vaca’ ('cow') and ‘baca’ (a roof luggage rack)

The distinction between homonyms and polysemous words is not always simple. We must attend to the etymology of the word itself, because although in both cases the words are pronounced and spelled the same, in the case of polysemy the word has a single origin, while in homonymy the word comes from various sources.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, the word proverb refers to " a short, well-known pithy saying, stating a general truth or piece of advice”

The origin of these sayings goes back to the Middle Ages, a period in which such expressions were transmitted orally from generation to generation. Initially, it was minstrels themselves that used such phrases to express a statement, advice or just to summarize events or situations already known.
This explains the extremely popular (therefore anonymous) origin of most proverbs, although there are examples created by famous writers.
There are sayings concerning any subject: women, men, time, religion, life ... and many are well known to the speaking community. All of them are meant to influence the ethical behaviour of individuals.

They are often used to summarize in one sentence what we mean, for example, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (explaining that one must not be ambitious).
Other times we use these phrases to complete some explanation: " It's no use crying over spilt milk." (to reinforce the idea that we need to know how to accept what one does).
Proverbs are so socially accepted that we often avoid saying the whole expression, letting the listener complete the second half for themselves: " When in Rome…” (do as Romans do).

Although most proverbs are of anonymous origin, some were written by famous writers, such as William Shakespeare, who even used “All’s well that ends well” as the title of one of his plays.

Others, like Miguel de Cervantes features lots of popular sayings in Don Quixote, where Sancho Panza abuses such expressions: “No es la miel para la boca del asno” (literally, "No honey for the mouth of the ass") a proverb that expresses the way delightful little things are not suitable for vulgar people.)
Even though the use of proverbs has become more sporadic among the younger generations, they are still popular and recognized by the speakers. It is interesting to note that these fixed structures do not accept variations, so they are passed from generation to generation without any changes.

Some examples are:

• One picture is worth ten thousand words.
• Birds of a feather flock together.
• Clothes do not make the man.
• All that glitters is not gold.
• Beggars can't be choosers.
• His bark is worse than his bite.
• Once bitten, twice shy.
• Out of sight, out of mind.
• The early bird catches the worm.

You may have access to lots of Spanish proverbs in the link below: http://listinpoetico.galeon.com/cvitae1007540.html.

“The Genius, Wit and Spirit of a Nation are discovered in its Proverbs." Francis Bacon