The Spanish demonstrative adjective and pronoun 'ese' (meaning 'that' when referring to something near the listener) comes from the Latin word 'ipse' meaning 'himself' or 'itself'. This evolution shows an interesting semantic shift from self-reference to spatial deixis, where the meaning changed from indicating the self to indicating objects in physical space - specifically things near the person being spoken to.

Some related Spanish words include 'eso' (that thing), 'esa' (that, feminine), and 'esos/esas' (those). These all form part of the Spanish demonstrative system and share the same Latin root 'ipse'. Understanding this family of words can help you master Spanish's three-way demonstrative system (este/ese/aquel).

While English 'that' is not etymologically related to Spanish 'ese', we can find some English words that do trace back to Latin 'ipse', such as 'ipso facto' (by the fact itself) and 'ipsum' as in 'lorem ipsum' (placeholder text). These preserved Latin phrases help show the original self-referential meaning of the root that evolved into Spanish 'ese'.