boca

Forms

boca f (plural boques)^[1] Coromines finds the pronunciation much the same everywhere; the DCVB records the final vowel as [ə], [ɛ], [ɔ], [e] or [a] according to dialect.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin bucca (“cheek; mouth”).^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

In the Latin of the classical writers the word meant the cheek, then a puffed-out mouth full of air or food; in spoken Latin it gradually replaced ōs (“mouth”), which was very short and close to the word for “bone”, and which left no trace in any Romance language.^[2][5][3] The old sense “cheek” survives in Romanian bucă and in the Latin loanwords of Welsh, Breton and Berber.^[2][6]

The same Latin word is Occitan boca, Spanish boca, Portuguese boca, French bouche and Italian bocca.^[7]

De Vaan takes “mouth” as a secondary, at first derogatory sense.^[8] A Celtic origin has been suspected, because the word resembles beccus (“beak”) and Celtic names such as Buccus;^[8][2][1] Coromines finds neither proof nor enough grounds to rule it out.^[8][2][1] The DLE calls it a Celtic word and compares Gaulish bocca.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

CICA has two occurrences in texts of the first half of the 13th century.^[10] Coromines gives Llull as the first record;^[2][11] Llull speaks of the likeness of the eyes, the nose and la boca, and says that although everyone can make do with one mouth, men are as greedy as if they ate with many.^[2][11] The sense is the mouth of a person or animal.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts extend the word to any opening: the mouth of a well (1401), of a cave in the Tirant, the narrow mouths of the sea in Canals (1395).^[12] De boca and a boca meant “by word of mouth”, as in Muntaner (1325) and in 15th-century Valencian letters.^[12] The Tirant also uses the word for the lips, in the kiss en la boca.^[12]

The phrase a boca de nit “at nightfall” was once widespread; a man from Figueres used it in 1610, and Aranese still has it, but in Catalan it has withdrawn to Valencia, where the diminutive a boqueta nit, popularly a poqueta nit, prevails.^[2] Menorcan boques de camins are crossroads, and deixar bona boca “leave a good taste” is used of any experience.^[2]

Many derivatives are old: abocar in the 13th century, a bocons “face down” in Desclot, bocada in Llull, bocal in 1365, bocatge in Roig (1460), and bocassa in 1803.^[5]

Timeline

• 1200–1249 – two occurrences in CICA's earliest texts.^[10]
• 1325 – Muntaner: vos vol dir de boca, by word of mouth.^[12]
• 1395 – Antoni Canals: les boques estretes of the sea.^[12]
• 1460 – the Tirant lo Blanc: la boca de la cova.^[12]
• 1610 – a boca de nit in a letter from Figueres.^[2]
• 1932 – Fabra defines the mouth as the cavity holding the tongue and teeth.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mouth, the opening through which an animal takes in food; in humans and many animals, the cavity from the lips to the pharynx: No parlis amb la boca plena.^[14][4]
2. The mouth as the organ of speech.^[4][3]
3. Taste, the flavour left in the mouth: Aquest vi deixa bona boca.^[4][15]
4. A person counted as someone to be fed: Amb el nou fill, ja són cinc boques a casa.^[15]
5. An opening, an entrance or outlet: la boca del metro, la boca d'un pou.^[3][12]

Word family

• abocar
• bocada
• bocal
• bocam
• bocana
• bocarrut
• bocassa
• bocatge
• boquejar
• desembocar
• embocar

Related words

• bucal
• Latin bucca
• Spanish boca
• French bouche

Usage notes

In Valencia a boqueta nit “at nightfall” keeps the old phrase a boca de nit.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 18
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. boca
4. ^ a b c d Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. boca
5. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 124
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 603
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1357
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es
10. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. boca
11. ^ a b c Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. boca
12. ^ a b c d e f g Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. boca
13. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. boca
14. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. boca
15. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. boca