vaca

Forms

vaca f (plural vaques)^[1] The DCVB records pronunciations with initial [b] and [v], and in some places with a palatal consonant in place of the /k/.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vacca (“cow”).^{[3][2][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan vaca, Spanish vaca, Portuguese vaca, French vache, Italian vacca and Romanian vacă.^[6][1][7]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[8][1] It has been compared with Sanskrit वशा (vaśā́, “cow”), but the Latin vowel and double consonant do not fit that comparison.^[8][1] De Vaan considers a form ⟨*vākā⟩ “the bellowing one”, perhaps from an imitative root also seen in vāgiō (“to wail”) and Sanskrit वाशति (vā́śati, “to roar”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in a testament of 1066.^[9] Coromines quotes an 11th-century complaint from the upper Segre valley, Rancur-me de una vaca de Guilelm Oler: no la vol redre “I complain about a cow of Guillem Oler's: he will not give it back”; he notes that cattle, the most valuable animals, were the first victims of the raids of that time.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Llibre dels fets of Jaume I, a nobleman's man has prepared a meal de bona vaca, of good beef.^[10] Medieval texts also gave the name to a sea fish and, in an apothecary's inventory of 1364, to a kind of vessel for oils.^[10]

Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 adds the stake that two partners put up together in a game.^[11] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 records donar la vaca, a rough game in which someone is lifted by the arms and legs and bumped on the ground, the torpedo ray, and fishing a la vaca, like the bou but with a smaller net worked by a single boat.^[12] Coromines explains that this net was named on the model of bou.^[13]

Derivatives: vaquerís (15th century), vacada (17th century) and vaquer (1653); vacuna came in 1839 from Spanish.^[4]

Timeline

• 1066 – vaca in a testament.^[9]
• 11th century – a complaint from the upper Segre valley about a cow not returned.^[3]
• 13th century – bona vaca, beef, in the Llibre dels fets.^[10]
• 1364 – vaques as vessels for oil in an apothecary's inventory in Barcelona.^[10]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary adds the meat and the joint stake in a game.^[11]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary records fishing a la vaca.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cow, the female of the ox: Munyen les vaques dues vegades al dia.^[14][5][1]
2. beef, the meat of the animal.^[2]
3. Cowhide, the leather of the animal.^[2]
4. The torpedo, an electric ray of the genus Torpedo; also called tremolosa.^[14][5][1]
5. The painted comber, Serranus scriba; also vaca serrana.^[14][1]
6. A bottom trawl smaller than the bou, with finer mesh, worked by a single boat.^[14][5]
7. Money staked jointly by two or more players.^[14][12]

Word family

• vacada
• vacum
• vaquer
• vaqueria
• vaquerís
• vaqueta
• vaquí

Related words

• bou
• vaccí
• vacuna
• Latin vacca
• Spanish vaca
• French vache

Usage notes

Set phrases: vaca sagrada “sacred cow”, a person of unquestioned authority, and vaques grasses and vaques magres for times of plenty and of want.^[14]

The DCVB has a second vaca that is only a variant of baca.^[2] Escrig's Valencian dictionary of 1851 also gives vaca for the leather box carried on top of coaches.^[15]

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 Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. vaca
3. ^ a b c 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. 9, 13
4. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 943
5. ^ 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. vaca
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 727
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. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. vaca
10. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. vaca
11. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. vaca
12. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. vaca
13. ^ 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, 56
14. ^ 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. vaca
15. ^ Escrig, José (1851), Diccionario valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. vaca