Diego

Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. It derives from a re-analysis of Sant Yago ("Saint Jacob"), viz. in reference to Saint James the Greater, re-analysed as San Diego.

In today's Spanish-speaking countries, Diego and Santiago are common as given names; Diego, Santiago and Sandiego are found as surnames. The forms Tiago, Thiago, Diago and Diogo are seen mostly in Portuguese speaking (Lusophone) countries.

History

The name is on record since the High Middle Ages (Diego de Acebo, d. 1207).

During the medieval era, the names "Sant Yago", "Diago" and "Diego" seem to have coexisted. "Sant Yago" is used, for example, in a letter by James II of Aragon dated 1300: "[...] maestro de la cavalleria de Sant Yago et de la dita orden [...]".

"Diago" is recorded, for example, in "Et fue a casa del Rey. e mostrolo a don diago que era adelantado del Rey" (Fuero de Burgos, c. 1240)

In the Renaissance era, the name was Latinized as Didacus (from Greek διδαχή (didache) "teaching").

"Diego" as a generic name or term for a Spaniard is documented from around 1615, and "dago" is used as such still in the 19th century. By the early 20th century, the term "dago" became an ethnic slur chiefly for Italian Americans, besides also for anyone of Hispanic or Portuguese descent.

Van

A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van it can be bigger or smaller than a truck and SUV, and bigger than an automobile. There is some varying in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, minivans, are commonly used for transporting people from a family. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially-equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.

Word origin and usage

Van meaning a type of vehicle arose as a contraction of the word caravan. The early records of van as a vehicle in English are in the mid 19th century meaning a covered wagon for transporting goods (earliest reported record 1829). Caravan with the same meaning has records since the 1670s. A caravan, meaning one wagon, had arisen as an extension or corruption of caravan meaning a convoy of multiple wagons.

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is the lead character in a series of eight children's books written by P. L. Travers. Throughout the Mary Poppins series, which was published over the period 1934 to 1988, Mary Shepard was the illustrator. The books centre on a magical English nanny, Mary Poppins. She is blown by the East wind to Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane, London, and into the Banks's household to care for their children. Encounters with chimney sweeps, shopkeepers and various adventures follow until Mary Poppins abruptly leaves, i.e., "pops-out". Only the first three of the eight books feature Mary Poppins arriving and leaving. The later five books recount previously unrecorded adventures from her original three visits. As P. L. Travers explains in her introduction to Mary Poppins in the Park, "She cannot forever arrive and depart."

The books were adapted by Walt Disney in 1964 into a musical film titled Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. In 2004, Disney Theatrical, in collaboration with Cameron Mackintosh (who had previously acquired the stage rights from Travers) produced a stage musical also called Mary Poppins in the West End theatre. The stage musical was transferred to Broadway in 2006, where it ran until its closing on March 3, 2013. In 2013 the film Saving Mr. Banks depicted the making of the 1964 film.