Why is the cycle race called La Vuelta "a" Espana, not "de"?

Question

The title says it all really. Before we started using the vernacular names we always called it *the tour of Spain*. What is this? a. not really understood by Spanish speakers as a tour belonging to Spain b. a mis-understanding of _a_ and _de_ on my part c. just an idiom, do not attempt to translate it

Answer 1

Hola , the expression "Vuelta a Espana' denominate to the Spanish Bike Race. The general meaning of Vuelta translates an important Spanish race. Use of preposition 'a' before the country noun in English literally means ' the race around Espana',the real function of 'a' is to explain in where comes it route. Because "Vuelta a Espana" is an sport event that has repeating annually through of years,it changed the grammatical rule of the prepositions inside of the expression.Di fact, its generalized use by speakers changed to the concept 'Vuelta' as if it is pertinent only to Spain turning this meaning intrinsic to the Vuelta noun. Turned noun representative of the Spanish bike race supplanting hence the grammatical use of 'de' for 'a in the expression 'Vuelta a Espana', increasing the proposal of the speaking about where travels the route in Spain.

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Answer 2

Hi there! Great question. I'm actually not familiar with this particular race/tour, however - I would say that if you called it La Vuelta de España, you would then be saying it is a Return from Spain (vuelta is the participle of the verb VOLVER which, when followed by de - VOLVER DE - means to return from.

I can understand your confusion, because it is true that in other contexts, the preposition de is used to express origin or ownership. The use of the participle vuelta in this phrase, however, changes things. Vuelta in this context (without de) now means "tour" (and if it weren't the title of this specific cycle tour, vuelta could even be translated as "lap" or "trip" or "round"). Therefore, we want to specify that this is a tour throughout or even to Spain. This cycle race is not a departure from Spain, but rather it is an event occurring within Spain.

Amazing how these tiny prepositions make a huge difference, right?!

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Un saludo cordial,

Alissa G., M.A. Spanish