Linguistic Society of America

Romance Etymologies
Author(s): Carlton C. Rice
Source: Language, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1931), pp. 259-264
Published by: Linguistic Society of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/409229
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 ROMANCE ETYMOLOGIES

CARLTON C. RICE

CATAWBA COLLEGE

[1. Sp.*seritare
'hog': bazo 'yellowish
(serere) brown': at,~&6
'sow, beget, 'deep-colored'.
produce'. 2. Sp. cerdo
3. Sp. empachar 'im-
pede' < *impattiare : *patta 'paw'. 4. Sp. esquejar 'make cuttings'
< *schistiare : schistos 'fissile'. 5. Sp. estropear 'cripple' < *exturpi-
diare. 6. Sp. estrujar 'squeeze out' < *extrusulare : *extrusare 'thrust
out.' ]

1. Spanish bazo, OS baqo 'yellowish brown'; bazo 'spleen'.

Karting's *vasium, suggested as the etymon of bazo 'spleen', would
doubtless have developt exactly like basium > beso. The *bombacius
for bombyceus 'of cotton or silk', suggested by Diez, accepted by Hor-
ning1, but doubted by Meyer-Ltibke, may be said to present considerable
phonetic and semantic difficulty.
I propose to derive bazo 'yellowish brown' from a Latinized form of
Greek fpafs 'deep', which in Roman and Byzantine Greek means
also 'deep-colored'. Pape2 gives one example of the meaning 'tief-
dunkel' from Aelian (3rd century A.D.). Sophocles3 mentions three
passages in which pf3afs is used as an adjective of color: Aelian V. H.
6. 6, with 6 os 'dark appearance'; Gregory of Nyssa (4th century
A.D.) 3. 1081 A, with aXovpyLs 'dark purple robe'; Lydus (6th cen-
tury A. D.) 178. 15, with 0pa4 'dark dye'. The Thesaurus Graecus ad-
duces also similar citations from Charito (4th century A.D.) and from
the grammarian Hesychius (5th century A.D.), with comment.
In The Phonology of Gallic Clerical Latin4 I have shown that Greek
0 was pronounced in Latin as ts in the tenth century and later. The
assumption of a late Latin *bathus with the th pronounced as ts is
therefore justified. One Spanish word, tio < 60tos, shows the earlier
Latin pronunciation of 0 as t; but the corresponding word in Italian,
zio, represents the later Latin pronunciation of 0.

1 Z. f. rom. Phil. 27. 347.

2 Griechisch-lat. Handwdrterbuch, s. v.
3 Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods, s. v.
4 Harvard dissertation of 1902, publisht 1907, p. 81.
259

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260 CARLTON C. RICE

I derive bazo 'spleen' from the sa

the original meaning was 'deep-
. . . is of a dull purple color . .
2. Spanish cerdo 'hog'. Meyer-Lii
sordidus, advocated by Diez (wh
inclined to favor derivation6 from
Spanish word back to a supposed
of hair' and saeta 'arrow'.
This assumed contamination seems to me extremely unlikely; and
even on the semantic side the etymology lacks plausibility, in that the
meaning 'hog' is probably antecedent to that of 'bristle', rather than
the reverse.
According to Diez, Larramendi derived cerdo from Basque cherria
'swine'; which in L6pez' dictionary appears as zerri, txerri; but these
forms, the base of which ends in i, are not obviously related to the
Spanish word. However, in this connection I quote the view of Mr.
E. H. Tuttle, who writes as follows:
An older form of Bask zerri seems to be the source of cerda, cerdo, just as an
older form of ezker is the source of izquierdo. The change of the final vowel to
-a and -o has a parallel in paloma, palomo, beside Latin palumbem. The r of
ezker stands for rr (as in the derivative ezkerreta); izquierdo implies a change of
rd to rr in Bask. The sound s, written z, seems to have come from an older ts
in Bask, parallel with Spanish 0 from ts.

I suggest that cerdo may be a postverbal formation from Vulgar

Latin *seritare, an already postulated frequentative of serere 'to sow,
beget, produce'. The only phonetic difficulty involved is the assumed
substitution of c for the initial s, which however is paralleled by cedazo
< setaceum, cerrar < serare, zueco < soccum, and the like, on which I
refer to Men6ndez Pidal7, who believes that words showing this irregu-
larity come from Andalusia.
The designation of the hog by a term meaning 'procreation', 'pro-
duction', or 'product', is not unlike the designation of cattle in Spain as
ganado, literally 'gain'.
Cerda 'bristle' is related to cerdo 'hog' as vaca, becerro 'sole leather',
'calf-skin' are related to vaca, becerro 'cow', 'calf'. The variation in

6 Encyclopaedia Brittanica"4 7. 707.

6 This etymology is due to D. S. Blondheim, in Studies in Honor of A. Mar-
shall Elliott 1. 245-50.
SManual de gram. hist.5 99.

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 ROMANCE ETYMOLOGIES 261

gender is similar to that seen in cardo 't

'loading' carga 'load', and the like.
3. Spanish empachar 'to impede,' 'to embarr
ment'.
The other Romance words which obviousl
connection with the Spanish words are, in
impedicd, Old Italian impedicare, Old Frenc
gal empedegar, which are plainly derived f
Old French and Provengal forms being se
Provengal empachar, Catalan empaitar, Por
impacciare, which must be from the same et
K6rting, following Diez, connects them wit
suming the sense-development 'pack in', 'st
This etymology is rightly rejected on ph
Lilbke, who, following in part other writers
tire second group of Romance words fro
This theory shows two phonetic weakne
to a in Spanish, etc., is anomalous; and C
explained as an analogical form.
I derive the second group from a Vulgar La
formed much like im-ped-icare; that is, from V
of the popular verbal suffix -iare. The devel
ch, Italian cc, etc., appears not to contradic
rule, altho exact parallels are wanting. In
VL words containing tty it may not be amiss t
capacho beside Old Spanish capago < cappace
guese ricago; hornacho beside OS hornazo <
cases we have VL etyma with cy instead of
are not well understood.
I of course derive Spanish despachar analogously from *de-ex-patt-
iare.

4. Spanish esquejar 'to make cuttings', esqueje 'cutting', desquejar 'to

make cuttings from sprouts'.
In attempting to etymologize these words, we should consider Catalan
esqueixar, esqueix, with analogous meanings, and Provengal esquissa,
which according to Mistral means 'dechirer, rompre'. Mistral lists
as dialectic variants of esquissa the forms esquieussa, esquinsa, escouissa,
escouicha. However, as is indicated by Kdrting and Meyer-Liibke,
esquinsa is from *exquintiare. Furthermore, the other variants are
likewise from a different base; that is, from a stem containing a short

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262 CARLTON C. RICE

o; and I suggest their derivation fr

presumably 'to cut out the ribs', w
regularly.
As for esquejar, K6rting correctly
the ground that sci cannot become
does not appear in Meyer-Liibke's i
among the derivatives of schidia 'sp
gia 'splinter'. Others, however, in
Spanish Academy, as evidenced by
to connect esqueje with schidia; but
is quite difficult, since intervocalic
Derivation of esquejar from the I
would seem attractive but for the existence of the Catalan and Proven-
qal forms, which cannot be obtained from a stem containing a voiced
consonant, and which seem to demand a base containing the group sty.
I therefore propose to derive the verb esquejar from the type *schis-
tiare 'to split', a Vulgar Latin formation from the attested schistos (=
Greek TXLWr6s). This schistos is a technical term used by the elder
Pliny in the sense of 'schistose', 'fissile'. Pliny also uses the adjective
to modify the noun lac, the combination meaning 'curdled milk';
and to modify the noun caepo, the phrase designating a variety of onion.
The word thus seems to have had a popular status in late Latin.
Fords indicates that the phonetic group sty regularly develops into
Old Spanish x, modern Spanish j. The phonetic development postu-
lated for Provengal esquissa and Catalan esqueixar likewise agrees with
Grandgent's phonological statements.9
5. Spanish estropear 'to cripple'.
In connection with this Spanish verb, we should mention Old Span-
ish estorpar, Portuguese estropear, Italian storpiare, stroppiare, French
estropier, all meaning 'to cripple'.
Diez's etymon *extorpidare, containing the stem of the adjective
torpidus, is evidently inadmissible. K6rting suggests connection with
stroppus 'strap', assuming the meaning 'to cut a piece of leather into
straps, thereby making it unsightly', 'to ruin'. This etymology would
seem to require further support on the semantic side. It is not even
mentioned by Meyer-Liibke, who doubtfully suggests derivation from
stuprare 'to dishonor'.

8 Old Spanish Sibilants 120.

1 Old Provencal Phonology 67.

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 ROMANCE ETYMOLOGIES 263

I propose to derive Old Spanish estorpar, dest

*de-exturpare rather than from *disturpare, t
Cornu.10 For the modern Spanish and Portugu
postulate the type *exturpidiare. It is know
used to emphasize the meaning of Latin verbs,
exacerbare, exaugere, educere, exaltare, excoria
of the suffix -idiare is clearly indicated by M
storpiare represents the type *exturpiare, with
the stem-accented forms. Popular Italian str
ther anomalies of metathesis and double p. Fr
rowed from the Italian, as Meyer-Liibke state
On the semantic side, the Latin dictionary gi
ugly, defile, pollute, disfigure, deform'.
6. Spanish estrujar 'to squeeze out'; truja 'oliv
The verb is connected by Diez with Latin torc
a metathesis gives French treuil, Provengal tr
assumption of a Vulgar Latin verb *extroculare
able. But such a type should have developt int
and there appears to be no further evidence fo
*extroculare.
I suggest that estrujar may be from a type *e
from *extrusare 'to thrust out', a recognized
noun truja seems to be a postverbal, with the
types containing the group sl are hard to quo
that this group becomes j in Spanish.
Additional Notes on Sp. estragar, sesgar, sim
LANGUAGE 5. 23-6).
Professor Jud of Ziurich and Professor Zaun
sent me comments on the above words. Both
*stragare > estragar; neither objects to *sim
case of *sesecare > sesgar, to meet the objection
little used in popular Latin, I now mention sep
ing that at least one ancient compound with
Why not another? As for *insulsicare > sosega
(likewise H. B. Richardson, Etymological Vocab
Amor, 1930, s.v. sosegar) question the semanti
drugs)', 'to lull', 'to quiet'. It should be noted i

10 Romania 13. 300.

11 Manual5 287.

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264 CARLTON C. RICE

the Latin synonym of insulsus, i.e.

but also 'struck senseless'; and that
'witless' but also 'unconscious'. Th
in *insulsicare > *sulsicare (cf. so
is paralleled by *albicare > albegar,
Old Port. sessegar and Prov. sousc
doubtless from *sessicare and suspi
Mistral have surmised (cf. K6rtin
souscd).

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