List Of Spanish Words Of Iberian Origin

This is a list of Spanish words which are believed to have originated from the ancient Iberian language. Some of these words existed in Latin as loanwords from other languages. Some of these words have alternative etymologies and may also appear on a list of Spanish words from a different language.

List

*ardilla "squirrel", diminutive of obsolete ''arda'', from ''harda''.
*argaña "ridge of an ear of cereal, weed", from *arganna
*árgoma "heather, furze, broom"; related to ''argaña''
*aro "big metal or wooden ring"; also Portuguese. Perhaps instead from an Indo-European word *''aros'' "circle; wheel" (BDELC).
*arroyo "stream", from LL ''arrugia'' "mineshaft" (Pliny the Elder, ''Naturalis Historia'', 33.70), from Iberian meaning "stream, channel"; also Portuguese ''arroio'', Friulian ''roggia'', Italian (Val Gardena) ''roia'', Venetian ''roza''; related to Spanish ''cuérrago'' "riverbed".
*artiga "busted sod, tilled earth" (> ''artigar'' "to till, bust sod"; DRAE). Coromines proposed instead: 1) Celtic or Indo-European word akin to Welsh ''aredig'' "tillage" or Old High German ''art'' "cultivated land". This comparison was already suggested by Hubschmid who related the term with Indo-European verbs such as Latin ''arare'' "to plough"; 2) Iberian
*balsa "pond, pool" (also Catalan ''bassa'', Portuguese ''balseiro''). Pre-Roman, probably Iberian (BDELC). (In Basque it is a Spanish loanword).
*barda "boundary hedge, fence, or wall; brush, thorn, or straw covering over pens or orchards"; also Portuguese; perhaps Iberian (also in ardinian language. (BDELC)
*barro "mud" (also Aragonese ''bardo'', Catalan ''bard'', Portuguese ''barro''), from *bardum; alternatively, from Hispano-Celtic.
*calabaza "pumpkin", from *''calapacceu'' (cf. Catalan ''carabassa'', Portuguese ''cabaça''), from ''calappacu'' "lizard, reptile, turtle" (see ''galápago'' below).
*cama "bed"; also Portuguese; (Isidore, 7th century) (BDELC, 101), from Iberian.
*caspa "dandruff"; also Portuguese.
*cazurro "rude, unsociable, malicious", formerly "obscene, crass, lewd"; alternatively from Arabic ''qadur'' "unsociable, dirty"
*coscojo "kermes oak gall" (also Catalan ''coscoll'' "scarlet"), from Latin ''cusculius'', from Iberian.
*cuérrago "riverbed"; also Portuguese ''córrego'' and ''corgo'', from Late Latin ''corrugus'' "canal, water conduit in a mine", from Iberian; related to ''arroyo''.
*galápago "tortoise" (also Catalan ''calàpat'' "toad"), from *''calappacu''.
*gándara "low wasteland, wilderness", from Late Latin ''gangadia''.
*garabato "pothook; squiggle"
*garduña "marten"; also Portuguese ''gardunho''
*garma "scree, steep mountain slope"
*gazapo "young rabbit" (also Portuguese ''caçapo'')
*gordo "fat", from Latin ''gurdus'' "thick, heavy, clumsy, awkward" (Quintilian, .. 35-100, ''Institutio Oratoria'' 1.5.57, used for ''stolidus'' "stupid"); also Portuguese, French ''gourd'' "numb, stiff', Italian dialects.
*gusano (var. gusarapo) "worm" (rivaled by inherited Sp ''verme'')
*manteca "lard" (Pg ''manteiga'', Cat ''mantega''), from *manteica. Corominas suggests an Indo-European origin.
*maraña "thicket"
*marueco, morueco "(uncastrated) ram" (also Catalan ''marrà'', ''mardà''), from *''mard''-.
*parra "grapevine, trellis" (also Catalan/Portuguese ''parra'', Occitan ''parran''); Corominas (BDELC) gives Gothic ''parra'', -''ans'' "surrounded, encircled", Middle English ''parren'' 'to confine, shut in', ''parrok'' 'enclosed pasture, paddock', Old English ''pearruc'' 'fence, enclosure, enclosed land', Old High German ''pfarrih, pferrih'' 'fold, pen, enclosure, hurdle, barrier, bounds, stall' (Modern German ''Pferch'')
*perro "dog", originally "cur"; ousted Old Spanish ''can''
*rebeco "ibex", from older ''rebezo'' (1475), ''robezo'' (1434), from Old Spanish ''ueko'', from Late Latin ''hybicum'', from Latin ''ibex'', ''-icis'', from Iberian, with influence from Old Spanish ''reves(s)o'' "cantankerous, not broken in, untamed"."Etimología de ''rebeco'' ‘gamuza’ y de ''reveso'' ‘rebeco’ y ‘(pez) rémora’", ''Boletin de la Real Academia Española'', 81 (2001), 223-53.
*sima "chasm"; Coromines considers to be dubious the comparison with some Indo-European words with meanings as "frontier" or "cord".
*sobaco "underarm, armpit" (also Portuguese ''sovaco'')
*tamo "chaff"
*urraca "magpie" (BDELC p. 564); alternatively from Hispano-Celtic *''vracca'' "crone"; cf. Old Irish ''fracc'' "woman", Breton ''gwrac'h'' "old woman, crone", Cornish ''gwragh'' "crone, witch", Welsh ''gwrach'' "id."; derivative of *''vraci'': Br ''gwreg'' "woman", C ''gwrêk'', W ''gwraig''.

See also

*Linguistic history of Spanish
*List of Spanish words of Basque origin
*List of English words of Spanish origin

Notes

References

*Corominas, Juan. ''Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana'', 2nd ed. Madrid: Editorial Gredos, S.A., 1967. (BDELC)
*Entwistle, William, J. '' The Spanish language: Together with Portuguese, Catalan and Basque'', 1962.
*Gómez de Silva, Guida. ''Elsevier's Concise Spanish Etymological Dictionary''. New York: Elsevier, 1985.
*Llorente Maldonado de Guevara, Antonio
Las Palabras pirenaicas de origen prerromano, de J. Hubschmid, y su importancia para la lingüística peninsular
, ''Archivo de Filología Aragonesa'', 8-9, pp. 127–157, 1958.
* Monlau y Roca, Pedro Felipe.
Diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana
Madrid, 1856.
*Oroz Arizcuren, Francisco Javier. "Sobre palabras prerromanas en escritores latinos" in ''La Hispania prerromana : actas del VI Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas prerromanas de la Península Ibérica : (Coimbra, 13-15 de octubre de 1994'') coord. 1996, , p. 207-216.
*Real Academia Española. ''Diccionario de la lengua española'' (22nd edition). Madrid 2001. (DRAE)

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Iberian