Concebollista & Sincebollista

Concebollista (pronounced kon-sur-ber-ghist-ah)

One who asserts onion is an essential ingredient in Spanish omelettes.

A Spanish form, the construct being con (with) +‎ cebolla (onion) +‎ -ista.  Con is from the Latin cum (with), from the Proto-Italic kom, from the primitive Indo-European ḱóm (next to, at, with, along).  Cebolla is from the Old Spanish cebolla, from the Late Latin cēpulla, diminutive of the Latin cēpa from whence English gained chive.  The –ista suffix is from the Latin -ista, from the Ancient Greek -ιστής (-istḗs) and is used to form nouns indicating “one who follows a principle”, “one belonging to that school of thought”, “one who holds certain values” etc.  The noun plural is concebollistas.

Sincebollista (pronounced sin-suh-ber-ghist-ah)

One who asserts onion must not be an ingredient in Spanish omelettes.

A Spanish form, the construct being sin (without) +‎ cebolla (onion) +‎ -ista.  Sin is from the Old Spanish sin, from the Latin sine.  It was cognate with the English sans, the French sans, the Italian senza and the Portuguese sem.  Cebolla is from the Old Spanish cebolla, from the Late Latin cēpulla, diminutive of the Latin cēpa from whence English gained chive.  The –ista suffix is from the Latin -ista, from the Ancient Greek -ιστής (-istḗs) and is used to form nouns indicating “one who follows a principle”, “one belonging to that school of thought”, “one who holds certain values” etc.  The noun plural is sincebollistas.

On the allium addition

Eagerly awaited results of a survey by the newspaper El Mundo were released in July 2021.  The numbers seem unequivocally to prove Spain’s pro-onion faction has triumphed in the great omelette dispute which centres on whether onions should be included in the nation's signature tortilla de patatas (omelette).  It was no narrow margin: 72.7% of those surveyed were concebollistas (onion lovers) and 25.3% sincebollistas (onion haters) while only 1.9% were indifferent or declined to offer an opinion.

Interestingly for a country in which politics have for decades been polarized, the issue didn’t split opinion across party lines, pro-onion majorities in parties of left and right varying by only a few percentage points:

Socialist Workers’ Party (left): 73.2%

People's Party (right): 72.1%

Vox Party (far-right): 69.4%

Unidas Podemos Party (far-left) 65%

Citizens Party (centre-right): 74.1%

With and without; omelettes for concebollistas & sincebollistas.

Women favored onions (73.3%) slightly more than men (72.2%), while age proved more predictive, onions popularity reaching 65.8% among those aged 18-26, peaking at an even 75% for those between 45-64.  There was a geographical spike among those who disapprove.  In the Basque country, never much in agreement with anything out of Madrid, the view remained it’s only barbarians who add onion to the mix.  Although no evidence was offered, there seemed  a consensus Franco (Generalissimo Francisco Franco (1892-1975), Caudillo of Spain 1939-1975) was an onion man, the Caudillo thus a concebollista.