Let’s find out…’Does ‘balenciaga’ Have A Secret Meaning In Latin Or Spanish?’ A recent holiday ad campaign by luxury fashion house Balenciaga has landed the company in hot water. The latest online rumour to come of the proceedings is that the name Balenciaga, split into three separate words (‘baal,’ ‘enci’ and ‘aga’) has a secret meaning in Latin.
The claim has appeared on Instagram. You can find an iteration of it here. There’s another more benign version, too, which chops the name up into four separate words: ‘ba,’ ‘len,’ ‘ci’ and ‘aga.’
In reality, Balenciaga is simply the name of the fashion house’s founder. Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre was a Spanish fashion designer.
The surname Balenciaga is of Basque origins. The Basque Country is an autonomous community in northern Spain. Other famous Balenciagas include Thai actors (who share a Spanish father) Rasri and Sadanun Balenciaga.
Does ‘balenciaga’ Have A Secret Meaning In Latin Or Spanish?
What Is The Meaning Of The Words ‘baal,’ ‘enci’ and ‘aga’?
Baal – note the double “A” – is the name of a god many ancient Middle Eastern communities worshipped in the past.
The Canaanites considered him a fertility deity and a very important god. In the Hebrew language, ‘ba’al’ has a meaning similar to “owner” or “lord,” although it also has a more general meaning. Britannica gives the example of a ‘baal’ of wings being a “winged creature.”
According to the online language dictionary Eprevodilac, the phrase ‘enci aga’ – two words – is Latin, meaning “act like an angel.”
Meanwhile, Google Translate recognises ‘enci aga’ as a phrase in the Sesotho language, meaning “I am building.”
At a stretch, therefore, you might be able to argue that the Basque/Spanish name Balenciaga derives its meaning from a Latin phrase meaning something like “Fertility god who acts like an angel,” but that doesn’t explain the combination of the Latin language and a Canaanite god.
Is There A Secret Latin Or Spanish Meaning To The Phrase ‘baal enci aga,’ or Balenciaga?
If you type the phrase ‘baal enci aga’ into Google Translate, it translates it to “Baal is the king.”
However, the Online Latin Dictionary doesn’t return any results for the supposedly Latin word ‘aga,’ and translating ‘aga’ from Latin to English in Google Translate returns the following word: “act.”
The Latin word meaning “king” is ‘rex,’ as in Oedipus Rex.
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The same Online Latin Dictionary contains zero entries for the supposedly Latin word ‘enci.’ And Google Translate automatically detects ‘enci’ as an Italian word, but translates it to the supposedly English word… “enci.”
So, any claim that the phrase ‘Baal enci aga’ directly and provably translates to the phrase “Baal is the king” is quite easily challenged. If you chop the word up a different way, into the four separate words ‘ba,’ ‘len,’ ‘ci’ and ‘aga,’ for example, it translates to “do what you want,” from which it’s hard to extract any dark or untoward meaning.
So, the answer to the question – is there a secret Latin or Spanish meaning to Balenciaga? – is no.
Balenciaga Is The Name Of The Fashion House’s Founder
To get from Balenciaga to ‘baal enci aga,’ you have to add an extra letter and split the word into three separate words.
But Balenciaga is a name in its own right. The company didn’t make it up. It is the name of Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre, the Basque originator of the fashion house.
Christian Dior referred to him as “the master of us all”; Coco Chanel called him “the only couturier in the truest sense of the word.”
The name Balenciaga is of Basque origins. Forebears don’t have a meaning for it in its database, but it does mention that “approximately 400 people bear this surname.”
Balenciaga Issues An Apology
The full extent of what’s been going on in terms of Balenciaga’s recent holiday ad campaign, and the public’s reaction to it, is beyond the scope of this article.
For a relatively comprehensive summary, head over to The Cut.
But in short, a controversial series of ads led to the viral popularity of the hashtag “#cancelBalenciaga”; Balenciaga filed a $25 million lawsuit against North Six Inc and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins over the campaign images on November 25, 2022; and the brand apologized for the campaign via social media.
You can read their statement in full on Instagram HERE.
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