The Spanish word 'erudito' (meaning 'erudite' or 'learned') comes from the Latin word 'eruditus', which meant 'educated' or 'cultured'. The Latin word was formed by combining two elements: the prefix 'ex-' meaning 'out of' and 'rudis' meaning 'rough' or 'unrefined'. The literal sense was therefore 'to bring out of roughness' or 'to remove roughness', which developed metaphorically to mean 'to educate' or 'to refine through education'.

A related Spanish word is 'rudo' (meaning 'rough' or 'coarse'), which comes from the same Latin root 'rudis'. You can think of someone who is 'erudito' as having moved beyond being 'rudo' through education and cultivation.

The English word 'erudite' is a direct cognate of Spanish 'erudito', also coming from Latin 'eruditus'. Another related English word is 'rude', which comes from Latin 'rudis' and originally meant 'rough' or 'unrefined' before developing its modern meaning of 'impolite'. The connection between these words helps illustrate how education was viewed as a process of refinement that would remove roughness or coarseness.