chopo

chopo¹ poplar

Pronunciation

• /ˈt͡ʃopo/, [ˈt͡ʃo.po]^[1]

Forms

chopo m (plural chopos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the poplar is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ploppus, an altered form of Latin pōpulus (“poplar”).^[2][3][1] Corominas explains the Vulgar Latin form, recorded in Italy in the 10th and 11th centuries, by a metathesis of the /l/ while the Latin word was still said with its second /p/ closing the syllable; the doubled /pp/ then kept the first syllable closed.^[2] The DLE derives the Spanish word directly from the classical form.^[4]

The same Vulgar Latin form is Portuguese choupo, Italian pioppo and Romanian plop, and with dissimilation dialectal Catalan clop and Pisan chioppo.^[2][5] Without the metathesis the Latin word gave Catalan poll, French peuplier and the dialect word pobo “white poplar”.^[2][5][6]

The /tʃ/ is not the regular outcome of /pl/ in Castilian, and García de Diego found it inexplicable unless the word were Galician.^[6] Corominas notes that both this ⟨ch⟩ and the loss of /l/ in the dialect word would be easiest to explain as borrowings from Portuguese, but rejects that for the tree name because it is found in Aragon and Valencia in the 14th century; he explains the ⟨ch⟩ by the frequent groups of article and noun, as in chato and choza.^[2] Wiktionary allows a Portuguese influence or loan, and an earlier form *llopo.^[1]

De Vaan finds no etymology for the Latin tree name; Ancient Greek πτελέα (pteléa, “elm”) shares its /p/ and /l/, but no regular correspondence can be found.^[7] Wiktionary compares *topolь (“poplar”) and suggests a common substrate.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is an Aragonese inventory of 1373, with other medieval examples from Aragon.^[2][3] In Castilian prose the CDH has it in 1494, in the translation of Ketham's Compendio de la humana salud, for a tree whose knots are used in a remedy: los nudos del arbol que llaman chopo.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Góngora, Covarrubias and Lope de Vega used the word, and the Diccionario de Autoridades of 1729 defined it as a tree of damp places with white bark and light wood that lasts under water.^[2][9] Covarrubias guessed that the tree was named for the way its roots suck up water, from chupar.^[10] From 1817 the Academy defined it as the black poplar, Populus nigra.^[11] Today it names several species of poplar and their wood.^[4]

Timeline

• 1373 – an Aragonese inventory.^[2][3]
• 1494 – the Spanish translation of Ketham's Compendio de la humana salud.^[8]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from chupar “to suck”.^[10]
• 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades, with examples from Lope de Vega.^[9][2]
• 1791 – first record in the Americas, from Lima.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy identifies it as Populus nigra.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. poplar, a name for several species of álamo, especially the black poplar: Plantaron chopos a lo largo de la acequia.^[4][1][13]
2. The wood of the poplar.^[4][13]

Word family

• chopera
• chopal
• chopalera

chopo² rifle

Pronunciation

• /ˈt͡ʃopo/, [ˈt͡ʃo.po]^[1]

Forms

chopo m (plural chopos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the rifle is borrowed from Italian schioppo (“firearm, gun”), said s-cioppo in many dialects.^[2][1] Corominas and the Academy consider this probable.^[2][4] The Italian word is first recorded before 1524 and has the same origin as scoppio (“bang, explosion”).^[14] Nocentini traces it to the imitative Latin stloppus, the sound of a slap on puffed-out cheeks, which came to mean the instrument that makes the bang.^[15] García de Diego also derives the Italian word from that Latin noun.^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas cites it from Bretón de los Herreros, who died in 1873.^[2] Boyd-Bowman has a Peruvian example of 1870, of a soldier tired of barracks life who colgó el chopo “hung up his rifle”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The Academy took the word into its dictionary in 1884; it was not there in 1843.^[2] It is a colloquial word, used among soldiers, as in cargar con el chopo “to shoulder the rifle”.^[4][17] In Venezuela it names a home-made firearm, in Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama a shotgun, and in highland Ecuador, figuratively, an umbrella.^[18][19]

Timeline

• before 1524 – Italian schioppo is first recorded.^[14]
• 1870 – a Peruvian example.^[12]
• 1873 – death of Bretón de los Herreros, who used the word.^[2]
• 1884 – first in the Academy's dictionary.^[2]
• 1931 – a Venezuelan example.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial) rifle, fusil: Le dieron un chopo y lo mandaron a la garita.^[4][1][17]
2. (Venezuela) A home-made firearm;^[18] (Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama) a shotgun (escopeta).^[18]