The Spanish word 'taller' meaning 'workshop' has an interesting journey through Romance languages. It begins with the Latin word 'astella', which meant 'splinter' or 'chip of wood'. This evolved into Old French 'astelier', which referred to a 'pile of wood chips' or more specifically 'a carpenter's workshop'. This then simplified to French 'atelier' meaning 'workshop', and finally made its way into Spanish as 'taller', maintaining the workshop meaning.

The semantic evolution from wood chips to workshop makes sense when you consider that early workshops, especially those of carpenters, would have been identified by the piles of wood shavings and chips that accumulated during their work. Over time, the word broadened to refer to any kind of workshop or studio, not just those related to woodworking.

While 'taller' itself is a commonly used Spanish word, it doesn't have many etymologically related simpler Spanish words. However, Spanish speakers might encounter it frequently in compounds like 'tallercito' (small workshop) or in phrases like 'taller mecánico' (mechanic's workshop) or 'taller de arte' (art studio).

English speakers might recognize the French cognate 'atelier', which has been borrowed into English to specifically refer to an artist's workshop or studio. While 'atelier' is less common in English than 'taller' is in Spanish, both words share the same meaning of 'workshop' and ultimately trace back to the same Latin root. The French word 'atelier' is often used in English in contexts related to fashion design or fine arts.