cuajar

cuajar¹ abomasum

Pronunciation

• /kwaˈxaɾ/, [kwaˈxaɾ]^[1]

Forms

cuajar m (plural cuajares)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the abomasum is formed from Spanish cuajo + -ar according to the DLE and the Spanish Wiktionary.^[2][3][4] Corominas instead takes it from a noun of Late Latin spelt ⟨coagulare⟩, which Vegetius uses for this part of the stomach.^[5][6] Either way the name comes from the milk curdling there in suckling animals, as Autoridades already explained.^[6][7]

cuajo is coāgulum (“rennet”), from cōgō (“to gather together”), which is con- with agō (“to drive”).^[5][1] Abenbuclárix (c. 1106) already records Mozarabic quwályo for the rennet or rennet stomach of camels.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's General Estoria (part I, 1272–1275) names the quaiar as one of the three places where animal fat lies, beside the heart and belly.^[8] Corominas dates the noun to the Escorial glossary of about 1400.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Enrique de Villena's Arte cisoria (1423) tells the carver to pull a pig's cuajar downwards, and Nebrija gives Latin ventriculus.^[9][10] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the part where animals take in food, a small bag full of folds, named especially in slaughtered livestock; a picaresque novel mentions a servant running off with a cooked cuajar.^[7] The Academy narrowed it to the last of the four stomachs of ruminants in 1884.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1106 – the Mozarabic quwályo in Abenbuclárix.^[5]
• 1272–1275 – first record, in the General Estoria I.^[8]
• c. 1400 – the Escorial glossary, Corominas's first record.^[5][6]
• 1423 – Villena's Arte cisoria.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as the fourth stomach of ruminants and derives it from cuajo.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The abomasum, the last of the four chambers of a ruminant's stomach (rumiante).^[2][1][11]

cuajar² curdle

Etymology tree of cuajar²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin agō

French agir

Latin cōgō

Latin coāgulum

Latin coāgulō

Italian cagliare

Spanish cuajar

From the same root · cuajar²

Latin abigō ← agō

Latin āctiō ← agō

Latin āctitō ← agō

Latin āctīvus ← agō

Latin āctrīx ← agō

Latin āctus ← agō

Latin adigō ← agō

Latin age ← agō

Latin agēns ← agō

Latin agilis ← agō

Latin agitō ← agō

Latin agmen ← agō

Latin agōnia ← agō

Latin ambāgēs ← agō

Latin ambigō ← agō

Latin aurīga ← agō

Latin circumago ← agō

Latin dego ← agō

Latin exāmen ← agō

Latin exigō ← agō

Latin exīlis ← agō

Latin fatīgō ← agō

Latin indāgō ← agō

Latin nāvigō ← agō

Latin peragō ← agō

Latin prōdigō ← agō

Latin reagō ← agō

Latin redigō ← agō

Latin rēmex ← agō

Latin subigō ← agō

See all derived words →

Pronunciation

• /kwaˈxaɾ/, [kwaˈxaɾ]^[1]

Forms

cuajar (first-person singular present cuajo, first-person singular preterite cuajé, past participle cuajado)^[1] Old Spanish wrote quajar and quaiar;^[1][8][7] Autoridades insisted on cuajar with ⟨c⟩ because of the Latin.^[1][8][7]

Etymology

The verb for curdling is inherited from Old Spanish quajar, inherited from Latin coāgulō (“to curdle”).^{[5][6][12][1]} Wiktionary sets a syncopated Vulgar Latin *coaglāre between them.^[1] The Latin verb is formed from coāgulum (“rennet”), which also gave cuajo.^[5][13] The learned doublet is coagular, recorded from 1709.^[6][1]

The same verb is Portuguese coalhar, Galician callar, Asturian cuayar, Aragonese cuallar, Catalan quallar, Occitan calhar, French cailler and Italian quagliare.^[5][14][1] Corominas has no proof that the Catalan verb was used outside the old Mozarabic territory of Valencia.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates it to the middle of the 13th century, in the Libro de Alexandre and the Libro de Apolonio.^[5][6] In the Alexandre (1240–1250, in a 15th-century copy) the waters ran de la sangre … quajadas, “clotted with blood”.^[15][9]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose it is already used of liquids setting, of things taking their proper solid form, of a river freezing, and of covering or filling something.^[8] The sense “to cover, fill” was common in the Golden Age: in the Americas a river cuajado de indios (México, 1532) was full of people.^[16][7] Cuervo traced the history of its senses in detail.^[5]

By 1843 the Academy listed the figurative senses “to overload with ornament”, “to succeed, come off” and “to please, suit”.^[17] Snow that settles is said to cuajar, and so is fruit that sets.^[12] In the Americas there are many local senses: in Mexico, to chat and pass the time, or to tell lies; in Mexico and Central America, to fall asleep; in Puerto Rico, of the coffee plant, to flower.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – first record, in the Libro de Alexandre.^[15][5]
• c. 1250 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of water setting and of bodies being covered.^[8]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives cuajar con cuajo, Latin coagulo.^[22]
• 1532 – cuajado “full, packed” in Mexico.^[16]
• 1705 – first record of the derivative cuajada.^[6]
• 1843 – the Academy records the senses “to succeed” and “to please”.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To curdle or set: to turn a liquid, especially one with albumin (albúmina) such as milk or egg, into a soft solid mass; also used reflexively: Hay que cuajar los huevos a fuego lento.^[12][1]
2. To overload something with ornaments (adorno).^[12]
3. (of snow or water) To settle, forming a solid layer.^[12][11]
4. (of fruit) To set, to form on the tree or plant.^[12]
5. (colloquial) To come off, succeed, take effect; also reflexive: El negocio no llegó a cuajar.^[12][1]
6. (colloquial) To please or suit someone.^[12][1]
7. (colloquial, reflexive) To fill up, become crowded: El estadio se cuajó de aficionados.^[12][1]

Word family

• cuajada
• cuajarón
• descuajar
• cuajado