alpaca

alpaca¹ animal; its wool

Pronunciation

• /alˈpaka/, [alˈpa.ka]^[1]

Forms

alpaca f (plural alpacas)^[1] Older and variant forms include allpaca, alpac, alpaga, alpaque and alcapa; the word was occasionally masculine.^[2] Alpaco appears in Juan and Ulloa (about 1740) and is still used in the Andes.^[3][4]

Etymology

The word for the animal is borrowed from Aymara allpaqa, which the DLE writes ⟨all-paka⟩.^[5][1][6] Corominas calls this source probable: the Jesuit Bertonio recorded the word as Aymara in 1612, but it also exists in Quechua, and Lenz took it from Quechua allpaca.^[3][7][8][2]

Another name of the animal, older in Spanish and still commoner in the Americas, is paco, from Quechua p'áko (“blond, reddish yellow”), the colour of its wool.^[3][7] Lenz did not know whether the two words are related, and ruled out a derivation of the longer name from the shorter one with the Arabic article.^[8] Corominas suggests a common root that reached Spanish by two routes through the related Andean languages.^[3] Etymonline also relates the Aymara word to the Quechua one and suggests that the ⟨al-⟩ may owe something to the many Spanish words with the Arabic article.^[9] Corominas dismisses Lokotsch's derivation from Arabic, since Arabic has no /p/.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bertonio's Aymara dictionary of 1612 still records allpaca as a purely native word, glossed as a sheep also called paco.^[2] A colonial report of 1595–1602 already has the variant alcapa for an alpaca dried into jerky: un [...] o alcapa hecho cecina, que llaman charqui.^[2] The first record of the modern form is in Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa's account of their voyage to South America (1748), among the livestock of the Andes: como Vicuñas, Alpacas o Tarugas y Llamas “such as vicuñas, alpacas or tarugas, and llamas”.^[10][2] Corominas's first record is of 1778.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Corominas thinks the word must have been used in Spanish earlier, since French had alpaque by 1716.^[3] The animal served as a beast of burden in the early years of the Conquest, as Ercilla and Acosta report, but it was given up because it lies down and will not go on; from this habit comes empacarse (1590), “to balk”, and in America “to dig one's heels in”.^[3][7]

The Academy first entered the word in 1869, as a Peruvian quadruped used for carrying loads; in 1884 it added the cloth made of its hair, worn mostly in summer.^[11][12] By the 18th century its wool was used for ponchos in Lima.^[13] Moliner notes that the cotton cloth called alpaca is used for priests' cassocks.^[14] The animal is now chiefly found in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.^[4] English took the word from Spanish in 1792, after an earlier pacos of about 1600.^[9]

Timeline

• 1595–1602 – a colonial document lists the variant alcapa among dried meats.^[2]
• 1612 – Bertonio records Aymara allpaca.^[2][3]
• 1716 – French alpaque, which Corominas takes as evidence of earlier Spanish use.^[3]
• 1748 – Juan and Ulloa name alpacas among the animals of the Andes.^[10][2]
• 1775 – ponchos of alpaca wool are recorded in Lima.^[13]
• 1778 – Corominas's first record.^[3][7]
• 1792 – English borrows alpaca from Spanish.^[9]
• 1869 – first entered in the Academy's dictionary.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “cloth made of its hair”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. alpaca: a domesticated camelid of South America related to the llama, prized for its hair.^[5][1][4]
2. The hair of the alpaca, longer, glossier and more supple than sheep's wool.^[5][14]
3. Cloth woven from alpaca hair.^[5][15]
4. A glossy cotton fabric suitable for summer suits.^[5][14]

Word family

• empacarse

alpaca² nickel silver

Pronunciation

• /alˈpaka/, [alˈpa.ka]^[1]

Forms

alpaca f (plural alpacas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the alloy is of uncertain origin according to the DLE and Vox.^[5][15] Corominas calls it a recent word and does not know whether it comes from the alpaca cloth, after the bright sheen of the animal's wool; his shorter dictionary says that its possible link with the animal's name has not been studied.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaspar y Roig's encyclopedic dictionary (1853–1855) already defines alpaca as an alloy of copper, zinc and nickel very like silver in colour and hardness, used for tableware, instruments and ornaments, and adds that in Spain it was more usually called metal blanco.^[16]

Semantic evolution

Corominas found the word missing from the Academy's dictionary of 1884 and cited a Catalan example of 1917; his shorter dictionary dates it to the early 20th century.^[3][7] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 lists the alloy as a third sense under the animal's name.^[17] In the Americas it is recorded for spoons in Colombia in 1950.^[13] Moliner gives metal blanco and plata alemana as synonyms.^[14]

Timeline

• 1853–1855 – Gaspar y Roig defines the alloy.^[16]
• 1884 – still absent from the Academy's dictionary.^[3]
• 1917 – Alemany lists it;^[17] Corominas cites a Catalan example of the same year.^[17][3]
• 1950 – alpaca spoons in a Colombian text.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. nickel silver: a white alloy of copper, nickel and zinc that looks like silver, used for cutlery and tableware (metal blanco).^[5][14][15]