cabra

Forms

cabra f (plural cabres)^[1] With the /r/ moved into the first syllable, craba is said in all the Catalan of Ribagorça, from Tamarit to Lasquarri, Boí and Benasque, and in some places along the northern border, especially the Capcir.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin capra (“she-goat”), the feminine of caper (“he-goat”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan cabra, Spanish cabra, Portuguese cabra, French chèvre, Italian capra and Romanian capră.^[6][1][7]

Wiktionary takes the Latin word back to Proto-Indo-European *kápros.^[1] In the other Indo-European languages the corresponding masculine named various wild male animals, such as Ancient Greek κάπρος (kápros, “wild boar”), while Old Norse hafr (“he-goat”) keeps the sense of the Latin word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines gives records of 874 and 1022, and in the 13th century the toll list of Cotlliure and the Usatges.^[2][4][5] In Llull's Llibre de contemplació sheep and goats always obey their shepherd: les ovelles e les cabres … tota hora obeexen a lur pastor.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The name passed to other animals: a large shellfish, the spider crab, and a parasitic insect of the louse family, which gave the saying qui té cabres que se les grati “let whoever has lice scratch them”, that is, leave me alone.^[2] The proverbial daring of the goat lies behind the Mallorcan phrase fer cabra coixa “to make a blunder”.^[2] Vicent Ferrer contrasts the obedient sheep with the goats that leap about the banks.^[9]

Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 lists the goat, the crab louse and a star.^[10] Aguiló's dictionary records haver mamat llet de cabra, said of a restless child, and el negoci d'en Robert de les cabres, a bad bargain.^[11] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 adds carregar les cabres “to put the blame on someone”.^[12]

Derivatives: cabrit “kid” (1249), cabrum “goats” (1288), cabrall (14th century, Muntaner), cabró “he-goat; cuckold” (14th century, Eiximenis), cabrella (1372) and cabrer “goatherd” (1653).^[4]

Timeline

• 874 – first record cited by Coromines; another follows in 1022.^[2]
• 13th century – cabra in the toll list of Cotlliure and the Usatges.^[2][4]
• 13th century – Ramon Llull, Llibre de contemplació: les ovelles e les cabres.^[8]
• 1420 – Bernat Boades: a castle where only goats could climb.^[9]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary adds the crab louse.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary adds carregar les cabres.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A goat, Capra hircus, a domestic ruminant lighter and slimmer than the sheep, with short rough hair and backward-curving horns: Les cabres s'enfilaven per les roques.^[13][5][1]
2. A female adult goat, a nanny goat: Aquesta cabra dona molta llet.^[13][1]
3. goatskin.^[5][1]
4. Any of several wild species of the goat family, as the cabra salvatge “Iberian ibex”.^[13]
5. The crab louse, Phthirus pubis.^[13][5][1]
6. The European spider crab, Maja squinado.^[13][5][1]

Word family

• cabrada
• cabrall
• cabrejar
• cabrella
• cabrer
• cabreta
• cabrissa
• cabró
• cabrot
• cabrum

Related words

• cabirol
• cabrafiga
• càbria
• cabrit
• cabriola
• Latin capra
• Spanish cabra
• French chèvre

Usage notes

The phrase estar com una cabra means “to be scatterbrained, crazy”.^[13] The DCVB also heads Cabra, the town of Cabra del Camp in the Camp de Tarragona.^[3][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 370
3. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. cabra
4. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 152
5. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. cabra
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 715
8. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. cabra
9. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. cabra
10. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. cabra
11. ^ Aguiló i Fuster, Marià (1914–1934), Diccionari Aguiló: materials lexicogràfics, ed. Pompeu Fabra and Manuel de Montoliu, 8 vols., Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. 3
12. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. cabra
13. ^ a b c d e f 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. cabra
14. ^ Coromines, Joan (1989–1997), Onomasticon Cataloniae: els noms de lloc i noms de persona de totes les terres de llengua catalana, 8 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa, p. 3, 167