The Spanish word 'loma', meaning 'hill' or 'ridge', has an interesting development from Latin through a metaphorical extension of body parts to landscape features. It comes from the Latin word 'lumbus' meaning 'lower back' or 'loin'. This first evolved into the Spanish word 'lomo' meaning 'back' or 'loin', and then extended its meaning to describe geographical features that resembled the curve or shape of a back, becoming 'loma' to refer to a hill or ridge.

A closely related and more common Spanish word is 'lomo', which means 'back' or 'loin'. While 'lomo' retained its original anatomical meaning from Latin, 'loma' developed to describe geographical features. You might hear 'lomo' in food contexts too, like in 'lomo saltado' (a Peruvian stir-fried beef dish) or 'lomo de cerdo' (pork loin).

While English doesn't have any direct cognates from the Latin 'lumbus', we do use this Latin root in some anatomical terms. For example, 'lumbar' (relating to the lower back) and 'lumbago' (pain in the lower back) come from the same Latin source. These medical terms preserve the original anatomical meaning that evolved differently in Spanish.