Countersign

[Tyrn]

Hi,

Password is contraseña :p . What's countersign in Spanish? The dictionary is not very clear about it.

[Rusty]

In English, countersign has two uses.
One is a signal, usually given in reply to another signal (and possibly just a sign that must be given for entry to some place).
The other is a signature on a document or check.

I suppose, since you've written contraseña as the word for 'password' in Spanish, that you're noticing that it's a cognate of 'countersign,' but turns out to be 'false friend.'

The signature one puts on a document or check is 'refrendo' or 'contrafirma' in Spanish.
The other Spanish word for the first meaning I gave for 'countersign' is 'señal'.

[Tyrn]

Señal, then. One has to be careful about the context.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

we also use contraseña for entry to some place.

[Tyrn]

we also use contraseña for entry to some place.

Of course you do. The question is, what do you call a response to contraseña, if one is required. In English it's countersign :) . In Spanish must be something else, inevitably.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

When you want to enter a place and you have to say a code word to be let in, it's "santo y seña".

-Para entrar al cuartel hay que dar santo y seña.
-Si no dan santo y seña, no dejes pasar a nadie.

As far as I know, this came from the army. The secret words were the name of the saint of the day and some other word or expression. That way a group of soldiers recognized each other. :)


Side note: In Mexico, we also use "santo y seña" to express that someone told you a story with every little detail. :)
-Me contó santo y seña de la boda.

[Tyrn]

There must be also a correct reply to santo y seña...

The question turned out to be really complicated :)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's not complicated when one is aware that context is everything, and that there are no isolated universal translations. ;)

The RAE gives both expressions as synonymous (https://dle.rae.es/santo), but as far as I've seen, the usage of two interactions is usually made by a "santo y seña" with a reply, which would be the "contraseña". This is why we use as translation of "password" too, I guess.

- ¿Quién anda ahí?
- Soy el cabo López. Quiero entrar.
- La casa azul.
- El perro verde.
- Puedes pasar.

Here are the dictionary's meanings of "contraseña (https://dle.rae.es/contraseña)". That may make things clearer. :)