cola

cola¹ tail

Pronunciation

• /ˈkola/, [ˈko.la]^[1]

Forms

cola f (plural colas)^[1] The form coa is very rare in Old Spanish and seems to be Leonese and Aragonese;^[1] Aragonese still has coda.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the tail is inherited from Vulgar Latin coda, a variant of Latin cauda (“tail”).^[2][3][4][1] The ⟨l⟩ of the Spanish form has no sure explanation, but it is very old: the form with ⟨l⟩ is the normal one from the earliest texts, and the claim that Old Spanish used a form without it until the 16th century is wrong.^[2] Some dialects of southern Italy have similar forms (the dialect of Sora has the same form), and Corominas reviews the explanations without choosing one: a regular sound change from the Latin word or its diminutive caudula (Salvioni), an Italic dialect form *cōla (Bartoli), a cross with caulis (“stalk”) (Rohlfs), or the influence of culo (Schuchardt, accepted by the REW).^[2][5] The BDELC thinks the Vulgar Latin variant with ⟨l⟩ the most likely.^[4]

The other Romance languages continue the form with ⟨d⟩ regularly: Italian coda, Romanian coadă, French queue, Catalan cua and Aragonese coda.^[2][5][1] coa may come from either form, and the rare Old Portuguese form with ⟨l⟩ is a Castilianism.^[2]

De Vaan reconstructs *kaudā and a Proto-Indo-European *keh₂u-d- (“cleaved, separate”), since words for “piece” often come from “to cut”.^[6] Wiktionary relates it to cūdō (“to beat”) and caudex (“tree trunk”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the word to 1220–1250, and the DCECH cites Berceo, the Calila, the Partidas and the Escorial Bible.^[4][2] The CDH's first hit is a heading of the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), Del que pelare cola “of him who plucks a tail”, and the Fuero Juzgo fines whoever damages a horse's mane or tail.^[7] Berceo's Duelo de la Virgen describes the Jews as bad nags, with their colas and manes in disorder.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Already in Alfonso X's astronomy the word named the tail of a constellation and the Cola of the Dragon, the descending node.^[7] Covarrubias (1611) adds the musical sense, a prolonged ending, now coda from Italian.^[8][2] Autoridades (1729) records the train of a gown or cassock and the sense “end, last place”, as in Mariana, who has Sertorius harrying the Romans' cola.^[9] From “the end of a line” came the queue of people waiting their turn (hacer cola).^[3] Many compounds name plants and tools after a tail, such as cola de caballo “horsetail” (also the ponytail) and cola de milano “dovetail”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first records, in the fueros and in Berceo.^[4][7]
• 1221 – cola in the Fuero de Plasencia.^[10]
• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna has a dog that will not wag its tail before it is fed.^[7]
• 1490 – coleta is first recorded.^[4]
• 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin cauda and penis;^[11] colear is first recorded.^[11][4]
• 1555 – colilla is first recorded, in Laguna.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias adds the musical sense.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tail, the hind end of an animal's body and spine; also the tail hairs or feathers.^[3][1]
2. A ponytail (cola de caballo).^[3]
3. The train of a long gown or robe.^[3][1]
4. The rear end of something, as opposed to its head: Nos sentamos en la cola del autobús.^[3]
5. The tail of a comet.^[3][1]
6. A queue or line of people waiting their turn: Había una cola enorme delante del cine.^[3][1]
7. (colloquial) The penis;^[1] (Latin America) the buttocks.^[3][1]
8. (military) The rear of a fortification; the gorge of a bastion.^[3]

Word family

• colear
• coleta
• colilla
• colero
• colista
• coliblanco
• colirrojo

cola² glue

Etymology tree of cola²

inherited borrowed derived

Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla)

Spanish cola

Pronunciation

• /ˈkola/, [ˈko.la]^[1]

Forms

cola f (plural colas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for glue is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue, gum”).^[12][13][14] Corominas holds it to be a learned word in Spanish and in the other Romance languages too, against the REW, which treats it as a popular Latin word: it is not found in Latin of antiquity, appears in French only in the 14th century, and is rare or absent in medieval Occitan and Catalan; the older Spanish word for paste is engrudo.^[12][15] Wiktionary gives it as inherited through a Vulgar Latin colla, and García de Diego takes it from French colle.^[1][16] The DHLF dates the French word to 1268.^[17] The same word is Italian colla and Portuguese cola.^[15][1]

The origin of the Greek word is uncertain;^[1][17] Wiktionary and the DHLF compare клей (klej, “glue”).^[1][17]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vidal Mayor, an Aragonese law code of about 1250, tells of forgers who cut a piece from a charter and glue another in its place con cola.^[7][18] Corominas, who did not know this record, first finds the word in Alfonso de Palencia (1490) and in Nebrija.^[12][14]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gives Latin gluten and colla for cola para encolar, and records colapez “fish glue”.^[11][12] Covarrubias (1611) describes the glue made from the ends of hides, which sets clear and is melted with water to join wood, and Autoridades repeats it.^[8][9] The phrase no pegar ni con cola “not to fit at all” uses the word figuratively.^[13] From the Greek root Spanish also has colodión and coloide and, through Late Latin, protocolo, a sheet glued to a document.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – cola “glue” in the Aragonese Vidal Mayor.^[7]
• 1490 – Corominas's first record, with encolar, in Alfonso de Palencia.^[14]
• 1555 – cola de pescado “isinglass” in Laguna.^[12]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the making of glue.^[8]
• 1734 – ictiocola in Autoridades.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. glue: a sticky paste used as an adhesive, especially in carpentry.^[13][1]

Word family

• encolar
• colodión
• coloide