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corbata

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word corbata

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1677–1678 Juan Antonio de Valencia, Diario de noticias More words from the 17th century
Borrowed from
Italian corvatta
Ultimate origin
Serbo-Croatian Hrvat

Pronunciation

  • /koɾˈbata/, [koɾˈβ̞a.t̪a][1]

Forms

corbata f (plural corbatas)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian corvatta (“Croat; necktie”), also crovatta, so called because Croatian cavalrymen were the first to wear it.[2][3][4][5][1] The Italian word comes from Serbo-Croatian Hrvat, the Croats' name for themselves.[2][3][6] The Italian dictionaries date the form croatta to 1673 and cravatta to 1707, with the two forms above in 1675 and 1706.[7]

Corominas thinks it unlikely that Spanish took the word from French cravate (1651), which came through the dialectal German krawat and gave Portuguese gravata and Occitan corbate.[2] The Academy's dictionaries of 1884 to 1917 did derive it from the French word, which they tied to a corps of Croats in French service in 1636, and García de Diego also gives the French source.[8][9][10] The current DLE derives it from an obsolete Spanish corbato “Croat”.[11] The French word comes from an ethnic name recorded from 1573, which adapted either the Slavic name or the dialectal German form.[12] Nocentini derives the modern Italian form in turn from the French word.[13]

The same name gave German Krawatte and English cravat.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Madrid diary of 1677–1678 notes a new fashion at court, where the King's and Don Juan's households went sin golillas y de chambergo, con corbatas, “without ruffs, in Chamberga dress, with cravats”.[14] Corominas's first record is a military ordinance of 1704, which gives each sergeant, corporal, soldier and drummer two corbatas; he notes that it entered as the name of a garment worn by soldiers.[2][15] The Breve diccionario dates it 1679.[3]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades describes an ornament put round the neck and hanging down to the chest, usually of fine linen, plain or trimmed with lace or embroidery.[15] It lists the diminutive corbatín as a neologism.[2] The first records from the Americas are from Nueva Vizcaya in 1718 and Lima in 1722.[16] The Lima text describes ladies in wigs, French coats and cravats.[16]

The Academy's dictionary of 1884 has the ribbon tied to a flag or standard as a mark of honour.[17] By 1917 it also had the billiards stroke that passes between the object ball and the cushion, the gauchos' neckerchief in Argentina, and the masculine corbata for a layman who followed neither the Church nor the law.[9] In Colombia and Puerto Rico the word names the front of a gamecock's neck, and in Colombia also a well-paid post that needs little work.[18][19][20] In Mexico and Central America it is also a puff-pastry bun shaped like a bow tie.[20]

Borrowed from Spanish are Tagalog kurbata and Cebuano korbata.[1]

Timeline

  • 1677–1678 – a Madrid diary records corbatas as the new court fashion.[14]
  • 1679 – the Breve diccionario's date.[3]
  • 1704 – a military ordinance issues two corbatas to each soldier.[2][15]
  • 1718 – first record in the Americas, in Nueva Vizcaya.[16]
  • 1729 – the diminutive corbatín.[3]
  • 1884 – the Academy derives it from French cravate and adds the flag ribbon.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A necktie, tie: a long narrow band of silk or other fabric worn round the collar and knotted in front: Se puso una corbata azul para la boda.[11][5][1]
  2. (military) A ribbon with gold or silver embroidery or fringe, tied below the spearhead of a flag or standard as a mark of honour.[11][5]
  3. The insignia of the commanderies of certain civil orders.[11][5]
  4. (billiards) A stroke in which the cue ball passes round the other ball without touching it, between it and two cushions.[11][5]
  5. A puff-pastry cake with almonds, shaped like a tie.[11][20]
  6. (theatre) The part of the proscenium between the edge of the stage and the line of the curtain.[11][5]
  7. (Colombia, Puerto Rico) The front of a cock's neck.[11][20]
  8. (Colombia, colloquial) A sinecure, an easy, well-paid job, often got through connections.[11][20]
  9. (historical, masculine) A layman holding an office, as opposed to a cleric or a lawyer (ministro de capa y espada).[11][9]

Word family

  • corbatín
  • corbatero

Usage notes

A bow tie is corbata de mariposa in Guatemala and Mexico and corbata de moño in Argentina and Mexico;[11] Spain says pajarita.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 192
  3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corbata
  4. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. corbata
  5. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corbata
  6. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 21
  7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 270
  9. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 454
  10. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1986
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. corbata
  12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  14. ^ 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. corbata
  15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 591
  16. ^ a b c 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. corbata
  17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 292
  18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 258
  19. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. corbata
  20. ^ a b c d e Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. corbata

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Corbata.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/corbata. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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