caza

Forms

caza f (plural cazas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote caça, with caza and çaça as rarer spellings.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish cazar (“to hunt”), Old Spanish caça beside the verb caçar.^[3][4][1][5] The verb continues Vulgar Latin *captiare (“to catch, hunt”), formed from captus, the past participle of capiō (“to take, seize”).^[3][4] Corominas finds indirect evidence for the Vulgar Latin verb in the 6th century, when the African writer Stephanus used a derivative captiōsus in the sense “keen on hunting”.^[3]

The verb has descendants in all the Romance languages, among them Portuguese caçar, Catalan caçar, Italian cacciare and Old French chacier; Portuguese caça is formed in the same way as the Spanish noun.^[3][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hits are the Semejanza del mundo (c. 1223), which tells of Cain on the mountain where he went hunting, and the Fuero de Zorita (1218–c. 1250): Que ninguno non aya defesa de caça “let no one have a reserve of game”.^[7] Corominas's first records are the Setenario (c. 1250) and the Calila e Dimna of 1251, where Fue el león un dia a caça “the lion went hunting one day”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant both the act of hunting and the animals hunted: Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of caça de bestias, and his Libro de la montería of the game itself.^[8] Autoridades adds a figurative sense, anything one catches or gains by effort or chance, and quotes Cervantes: Buena ha estado la caza.^[9] In 1817 the Academy records caza mayor (boar, deer, wolves) and caza menor (hares, rabbits, partridges), the figurative andar a caza de gangas “to look for bargains”, and the nautical dar caza “to chase a ship”.^[10]

In the 20th century caza became the masculine name of the fighter plane, short for avión de caza.^[11][12][1] Caza de brujas “witch hunt” is political persecution, especially that against communist sympathisers in the United States after the Second World War.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo uses caça of hunting.^[7]
• c. 1250 – Corominas's first record, in the Setenario; in 1251 the Calila e Dimna has a caça.^[3][4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of caça de bestias.^[8]
• 1256 – caçador “hunter”, derived from the verb.^[3][4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives venatio for hunting wild beasts and aucupium for fowling.^[13]
• 1529 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City: yr a caça de venados “go deer-hunting”.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the game itself and the figurative sense “catch, prize”.^[9]
• 1817 – the Academy records caza mayor, caza menor and the nautical dar caza.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) The act of hunting; a hunt: Salieron de caza al amanecer.^[11][1]
2. (feminine) game: wild animals, before and after they are caught, and their meat: En esta sierra abunda la caza.^[11][12]
3. (feminine) Pursuit, chase: la caza del fugitivo.^[11][1]
4. (masculine) A fighter plane, short for avión de caza.^[11][12][1]

Word family

• cacería
• cazadero

Related words

• cazar
• cazador
• Portuguese caça

Usage notes

Set phrases include caza de brujas “witch hunt”, caza mayor “big game” and andar a la caza de algo “to be after something”.^[11][12] The DLE has a second caza of different origin, named after the city of Gaza: a very thin cloth like gauze, used in the past;^{[11][15][9][3]} Autoridades already records it, and the DCECH treats it under gasa.^{[11][15][9][3]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. caza
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 932
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cazar
5. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 658
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1428
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. caza
8. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. caza
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 244
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 190
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. caza
12. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. caza
13. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. caza
14. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. caza
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. caza