costa

costa¹ coast; slope; rib

Etymology tree of costa¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin costa

Catalan costa

Italian costa

Old French coste

French côte

English coast

Romanian coastă

Spanish cuesta

English costa

German Kosten

From the same root · costa¹

Latin costātus ← costa

English coastline ← coste

English coastal ← coast

English coaster ← coast

Pronunciation

• Northern: [ˈko̞s.tə]^[1]
• Balearic, Central: [ˈkɔs.tə]^[1]
• Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈkɔs.ta]^[1]

Forms

costa f (plural costes)^[1] The DCVB records /kɔ́stə/, /kɔ́sta/, /kɔ́stɛ/ and /kɔ́stɔ/, the final vowel varying with the dialect.^[2] A charter of 978 writes chosta.^[3]

Etymology

The word for the coast, the slope and the rib is inherited from Latin costa (“rib; side”), a word that in the Romance languages came to be applied above all to the sides and slopes of mountains and to the coastline.^{[3][2][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Italian costa, French côte, Occitan còsta, Portuguese costa and Romanian coastă.^[6][1] The inherited Spanish cuesta (“slope”) stands beside costa (“coast”), which the REW takes as a borrowing from Catalan.^[6]

The Latin noun has no secure etymology: it has been compared with the Slavic word for “bone”, Proto-Slavic *kostь, a connection de Vaan rejects and Derksen thinks quite possible.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its topographical sense the word is frequent from the 10th century in charters in Latin or half Catalan: Balari and Bastardas–Bassols collect examples from 941 on, and a charter of 978 in the cartulary of Sant Cugat bounds a piece of land ad ipsa chosta “at the slope”.^[3] The bodily sense is recorded from the 13th century, as in Llull's Blanquerna: God made Eve d'una costa que li trasch “from a rib that he took from him”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the rib the word passed to the back, on which loads are carried: Jaume I's men leave a town with what they can carry en les costes e en les mans, and Eiximenis puts a pack-saddle a les costes.^[3][8] From this came the phrase a costes “on one's back”, used figuratively by Muntaner of fighting ab la febre a costes;^[3] girar les costes “to turn one's back, to flee” is in a war report of 1304.^[3]

In the Pyrenees costa can mean a very steep mountainside, and it is in mountain names such as Costabona;^[3] Onofre Pou glosses it as a way up or down.^[3] Faraudo also records it at sea for a shroud of a galley (1352), for the splints of a scabbard, and as a preposition meaning “beside”.^[8]

Among the derivatives, acostar “to bring near” is recorded in 1250, costat “side” in Llull, and costaner in Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839.^[4] The DIEC2 marks the sense “rib” as old and gives first the coast, then the steep slope.^[9]

Timeline

• 941 – the first examples in Latin charters.^[3]
• 978 – ad ipsa chosta in a charter in the cartulary of Sant Cugat.^[3]
• 1250 – the derivative acostar.^[4]
• 1250–1299 – costa in the Catalan Diàlegs of Saint Gregory.^[10]
• 1304 – giraren les costes “they turned their backs” in a war report.^[3]
• 1352 – costes, shrouds, in the inventory of a Mallorcan galley.^[8]
• 1839 – costaner in Labèrnia's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. coast, the land along the sea: Vam resseguir la costa en barca fins a Cadaqués.^[9][5][1]
2. A steep slope;^[1] costa amunt, costa avall: uphill, downhill.^[9][5][1]
3. fer-se costa amunt (something): to become hard or burdensome.^[9]
4. (archaic) A rib; the side of the body.^[9][5]
5. (botany) A ridge on the surface of a plant organ, as on the fruits of the umbellifers.^[9][5]
6. (entomology) The lower margin of an insect's wing.^[9][5]

Word family

• acostar
• costaner
• costat
• costella
• coster

costa² cost, expense

Pronunciation

• Northern: [ˈko̞s.tə]^[1]
• Balearic, Central: [ˈkɔs.tə]^[1]
• Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈkɔs.ta]^[1]

Forms

costa f (plural costes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for costs and expenses is a deverbal noun from Catalan costar (“to cost”), first recorded in 1598.^[11][5][1] The DCVB thinks it was more probably taken from Spanish costa, noting that the older Catalan word is cost.^[2] The verb comes from Latin constō (“to stand firm; to cost”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines and the GDLC date the noun to 1598, and Coromines also finds it in Torra's dictionary of 1640.^[11][5]

Semantic evolution

The DCVB gives the senses “cost”, “what a thing costs” and “the expenses of a lawsuit”.^[2] The DIEC2 keeps the phrase a costa de “at the cost of” and the plural for court costs.^[9]

Timeline

• 1598 – first record.^[11][5][1]
• 1640 – in Torra's dictionary.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. cost, expense: what something costs.^[2][5][1]
2. a costa de: at the cost of, in exchange for: Va acabar la carrera a costa de moltes nits sense dormir.^[9]
3. (law, in the plural) The costs of a lawsuit, paid by the parties or by the losing side.^[9][5][1]