We explain what a crush is, the origin of the term in English and how it was used. Also, how it came to be used in Spanish.
What is a crush?
The word crush comes from English, and is a verb that has meanings associated with "crush", "crunch" or "crush", which is why it is common to find it in drinks based on squeezed fruit (such as Orange crush). However, at the beginning of the 21st century an old use of the term became popular, linked to the world of romance and love, and which has been adopted in the slang popular of Internet in Spanish, thanks to the social networks and culture 2.0.
In the English language, the first recorded meaning of "crush" with a loving meaning dates back to 1884, in the journal of the writer Isabella Maud Rittenhouse (1864-1946).
According to certain scholars of the idiom Anglo-Saxon, this term could come from “mash”Used colloquially at the time to refer to the infatuation or to flirtation, and that according to some etymological dictionaries of the nineteenth century could come from the Romany term masherava, which translates to "enchant" or "seduce."
The truth is that from 1913 the phrase "to have a crush on someone”To refer to the act of falling in love. However, with the passage of time this use was restricted to Platonic infatuation, also known in English as puppy love.
This is because it is a contemplative, impossible type of love, entirely fascinated by the object of desire and resembling the devotion that puppies feel for their masters.
This last sense is the one that has been adopted in Spanish in recent years. Thus, "to have a crush with someone" or "someone to be my crush" are common phrases among youth slang that should be interpreted as that the speaker feels a platonic and lasting attraction for that person.
It is common for such statements to be made about film actors, personalities from the world of music or simply famous people, since said unrequited love has youthful and adolescent overtones.