origins.romance.french-italian
Gallicisms and Italianisms: borrowing from the cousins
Spanish keeps borrowing from its own family: French gave mensaje, jardín, hotel and the suffix -aje; Italian gave novela, piano, fachada and banca; Catalan gave paella and faena; Portuguese gave mermelada and chubasco.
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Explanation
French arrived in three waves. In the Middle Ages, along the Camino de Santiago and with the Cluniac monasteries: mensaje, homenaje, monje, jardín, jaula, manjar, vergel, dama, joya — and, more importantly, the suffix -aje (French -age), which Spanish still uses productively in viaje, paisaje, garaje, aprendizaje. In the eighteenth century, with the Bourbon court, came fashion, cooking and administration: hotel, chalet, restaurante, menú, control, detalle, bufanda, pantalón, blusa, corsé. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries added garaje, chófer, carnet, cliché, debut, élite, peluche.
Italian borrowing is concentrated in the Renaissance and Baroque, and it shows in the fields: literature and art (novela, soneto, madrigal, esbozo, diseño, modelo, fachada), music (piano, ópera, batuta, soprano), war (escopeta, centinela, escolta) and finance (banca, bancarrota) — Italian bankers taught Europe the vocabulary of credit. Later waves brought food: pizza, espagueti, capuchino.
The neighbours at home matter too. Catalan gave paella (originally just 'pan', from Latin patella), faena, forastero, entremés, capicúa; Portuguese gave mermelada, chubasco, buzo, mejillón, barullo. Two patterns are worth keeping in mind: words usually arrive with the object or practice they name, and the most recent arrivals are still being adapted in spelling, which is why you will meet both chófer and chofer, cruasán and croissant, bufé and buffet in real texts.
Examples
I left the car in the hotel garage.
I read a novel and then we went to the opera.
They served paella and homemade jam.