cuadrilla

Forms

cuadrilla f (plural cuadrillas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote quadriella, quadrella and quadradiella beside quadrilla; the spelling with ⟨qu⟩ lasted into the 18th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish cuadro + -illa, a diminutive of the noun for a square.^[5][1][6] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that noun and dates it to the second half of the 13th century; the Breve diccionario gives the 13th century.^[6][7] García de Diego places it under cuadra, a derivative of the same Latin word.^[8]

The base noun is from Latin quadrum (“a square”), which comes from quadrus (“square”), a word of the family of quattuor (“four”).^[6][9][1]

The first sense was the division of a host into four parts for sharing out the booty, from which came “band, group one belongs to” and then “group of people gathered for a purpose”.^[6][7][10] Covarrubias explained the name by saying that such a group must have at least four members, and the Academy repeated this from Autoridades to the 1899 edition;^[11][4][12] Corominas finds no basis for it.^{[11][4][12][6]}

Spanish lent the word to French quadrille at the end of the 16th century.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are in the fueros of the 13th century, where quadriella is a share of land or booty: the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) speaks of an inheritance claimed as being de aquella misma quadriella “of that same share”.^[3] The Fuero de Usagre (1242–1275) rules that Toda heredat de quadriella que non fue partida “all inherited land of a share that was not divided” is lost to its group after a year.^[14][6]

Semantic evolution

By the late 13th century the word named a division of an army: Alfonso X's Estoria de España has the knights of the host grouped por quadriellas.^[3] From there it came to mean any armed group, especially of horsemen in jousts and tournaments, a sense Corominas finds in Fernando Chacón (1546) and Pérez de Hita.^[6] The Mesta, the guild of the sheep owners, was divided into four cuadrillas (Cuenca, Soria, Segovia and León), and the Santa Hermandad called its armed patrols cuadrillas and their men cuadrilleros;^[15][16] Cervantes jokes about ladrones en quadrilla, que no quadrilleros.^[5][15][16]

In the Americas the word named bands of soldiers sent to raid (1515) and gangs of Indians working in the mines (1528).^[17] Domínguez (1846) records the bullfighting sense, the men who fight under a matador, and Alemany (1917) a ballroom dance for four couples.^[18][19] Today the word means a crew of workers, a group of friends and, in law, a gang of more than three armed criminals.^[5][20] The dance survives in Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia, and in Puerto Rico a cuadrilla is a gang of coffee pickers.^[21][22]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has quadriella for a share of an inheritance.^[3]
• 1242–1275 – the Fuero de Usagre, Corominas's first record, uses quadriella for the shares of land and booty.^[6][14]
• 1257–1271 – the Repartimiento de Murcia names a quadrella and its quadrelleros.^[3]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España groups the knights of the host por quadriellas.^[3]
• 1515 – first record in the Americas, in Tierra Firme, of a cuadrilla sent to raid the land.^[17]
• 1546 – Fernando Chacón uses it for a team of horsemen in jousts.^[6]
• 1605 – first record of cuadrillero.^[7]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as a company of at least four people.^[11]
• 1737 – Autoridades adds the companies of the public festivals, such as tournaments and cane games.^[4]
• 1846 – Domínguez records the bullfighters who enter the ring together.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crew or team of people working together or gathered for some purpose: una cuadrilla de electricistas.^[5][1]
2. (colloquial) A group of friends (pandilla).^[5][23]
3. A pack of hunting dogs.^[5]
4. (historical) In tournaments and festivals, each of the teams of participants, told apart by their colours and devices.^[5]
5. (historical) Each of the four sections of the Council of the Mesta.^[5]
6. (historical) An armed patrol of the old Santa Hermandad.^[5]
7. (law) The joint action of more than three armed criminals, an aggravating circumstance in some codes: asalto en cuadrilla.^[5]
8. (bullfighting) The team of a matador, with his banderilleros and picadors.^[5][1]
9. (Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia) A dance in which couples perform coordinated figures.^[21]

Word family

• cuadrillero
• acuadrillar

Related words

• cuadro
• cuadra
• escuadrilla
• cuatro
• French quadrille

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. cuadrilla
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cuadrilla
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 448
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. cuadrilla
6. ^ 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. 2, 255
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuadro
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5323
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. cuadrilla
11. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1239
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 287
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
14. ^ 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. 820
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 256
16. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 336
17. ^ a b 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. cuadrilla
18. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 500
19. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 484
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuadrilla
21. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cuadrilla
22. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. cuadrilla
23. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. cuadrilla