guatlla

Forms

guatlla f (plural guatlles, masculine guatllot, masculine plural guatllots)^[1] Medieval texts write guatla, and also gatla (Turmeda, Antoni Canals) and gualla (Eiximenis).^[2][3] In the Principality and Roussillon the ⟨tll⟩ is pronounced as a double palatal /ʎʎ/, while the Balearic Islands and Valencia have a double /ll/ without palatalisation: gwàlla, gwàla.^[2][4] Popular speech in central Catalonia reduces the diphthong to gòlla.^[2] Capcir has kàlh.^[2] Mallorca has guàl·lera and Eivissa and Menorca guàtlera, with an added ending as in mèl·lera for merla; older Valencian sources write guàla, guatla and gual·la.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan guatla, the medieval spelling, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin *quacla, a contracted form of Late Latin quaccola (“quail”).^[1] The DCVB starts from a Latin coacula, following the REW.^[4] Bruguera and the GDLC give the late Latin word as Medieval Latin quaquila.^[5][6]

The same word is Old Occitan catla, Old French quaille (now caille) and Italian quaglia.^[2] Coromines considers it native in all three, whereas Spanish coalla, recorded only once, in 1644, would be a loan from Catalan crossed with the first syllable of codorniz.^[2][7]

The late Latin word is first found in the Reichenau glosses of the 8th century; its late appearance points to a borrowing from Germanic.^[1] Coromines and Bruguera derive it from an old Germanic *quahtila (“quail”), probably Frankish, and compare Old High German quahtila, Middle Dutch quackele and German Wachtel.^[2][5] He adds that similar forms in other Indo-European languages, and the differences between them, show that imitation of the bird's call played a part, and that the Romance word probably spread as a term of falconry.^[2] Wiktionary leaves the question open between a Proto-Italic formation and a borrowing from Germanic.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Ramon Muntaner's chronicle, written about 1330 and telling events of 1305: an Almogàver rider meets two Genoese merchants in a garden of the emperor at Constantinople, qui caçaven a caça de guatla “who were out hunting quail”, and takes them prisoner for ransom.^[2] Bruguera and the GDLC also date the word to the 14th century, with Muntaner.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Medieval writers name the quail as game and as food: Eiximenis lists gualles among winter dishes, Turmeda and Antoni Canals tell of the quails God sent to the Israelites, and Joanot Martorell has a princess go out with sparrowhawks to take alguna guatla.^[2] The dictionaries record it from Busa's of 1507.^[2]

The figurative sense “lie”, very popular in central Catalan, has a parallel in a German comparison, to lie like a quail.^[2] Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 already gives it as familiar, and Fabra's of 1932 has it beside the bird.^[8][9] Other uses are local: in Alcoi gual·les terreres are droppings, in Monòver estar fet una guala is said of someone with a stubborn cough, and a late 15th-century veterinary book calls a disease of horses' feet guala.^[2] The DCVB also records the word for a small bunch of grapes.^[4]

The name guatlla maresa “mother quail” was given to another migrant bird that travels with the quails, the corncrake.^[2][9] The male is guatllot.^[5][1]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – Muntaner's chronicle: two Genoese merchants hunting guatla near Constantinople.^[2]
• 1507 – Busa's dictionary: guatla, glossed with Latin coturnix.^[2]
• 1803 – Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà's dictionary has guatlla and guatlla maresa.^[10]
• 1839 – Labèrnia gives the familiar sense “lie”.^[8]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary identifies the guatlla maresa as Crex crex.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quail (Coturnix coturnix), a small migratory game bird of the pheasant family, much prized by hunters.^[11][6][1]
2. guatlla andalusa: the small buttonquail of southern Europe (Turnix sylvatica).^[11]
3. guatlla maresa: the corncrake (Crex crex), a migratory bird of the rail family, larger than the quail.^[11][9]
4. (colloquial, figurative) A lie, a tall story: No m’expliquis guatlles.^[11][6][12]
5. (dialectal) A small bunch of grapes.^[4]

Word family

• guatllot

Related words

• Late Latin quaccola
• French caille
• Italian quaglia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. 4, 713
3. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. guatla
4. ^ a b c d Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. guatlla
5. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 476
6. ^ 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. guatlla
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 103
8. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. guatlla
9. ^ a b c d Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. guatlla
10. ^ Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. guatlla
11. ^ a b c d 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. guatlla
12. ^ Rodamots: cada dia, un mot (online), https://rodamots.cat, p. s.v. guatlla