erizo

Forms

erizo m (plural erizos, feminine eriza, feminine plural erizas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ericius (“hedgehog”), a derivative of the archaic Latin noun er (“hedgehog”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun also meant a spiked barrier in warfare.^[5][6] Old Spanish had the voiced sibilant spelt ⟨z⟩, as the spellings of Juan Ruiz, Alfonso de Palencia and Nebrija show.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese ouriço, Galician ourizo, Asturian arizu, Catalan oriç, Italian riccio, Sardinian rizzu and Romanian arici.^[7][8][1] Corominas explains the forms with ⟨au-⟩ or ⟨o-⟩ of Galician, Asturian, Santander and part of Catalan as a crossing of the word with auricula and auris, used as names of shells, which gave Vulgar Latin *auricium.^[2] He also traces Basque triku and kirikiño to the same Latin word, against Michelena's onomatopoeic explanation.^[2]

The archaic noun goes back to *hēr and *ǵʰēr- (“hedgehog”), which also gave Ancient Greek χήρ (khḗr, “hedgehog”), known only from Hesychius.^[9][1] Wiktionary takes it as a root noun from a root meaning “to bristle”, the source of χοῖρος (khoîros) and Albanian derr (“pig”).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Moamín, the treatise on hunting birds translated for Alfonso X (manuscript of 1250), which recommends hedgehog meat as food for sick hawks: es les buena la carne de los erizos.^[10][11] Corominas dated the word from Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor (1330–1343), where it also names the animal.^[2][3][12]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija and Covarrubias already used the name for the sea urchin, and Covarrubias also for the prickly husk of the chestnut.^[13][14] Autoridades extended this to the husks of hazelnuts and acorns.^[15] Covarrubias derived the word from Latin hericius and herinacius, while Autoridades thought it might also come from erigere “to raise”, because the animal raises its spines.^[16][15] Today the DLE also gives a spiny shrub, the porcupinefish, a person of harsh, unsociable character and a row of iron spikes on top of a wall, the old military sense of the Latin word.^[4][5]

In the Americas the word was used from 1548 for the spiny husk of tropical fruits.^[17] In Colombia and Venezuela it names a fibre plant, and in parts of Central America the tree porcupine; in Mexico it is also an adjective, “with bristling hair” and, colloquially, “irritable”.^[18][19][20]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín mentions the meat of hedgehogs.^[10][11]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz uses the word in the Libro de buen amor, the DCECH's first record;^[12] Corominas's short dictionary gives 1335.^[2][3][12]
• 1335 – the derivative erizar is first recorded.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses erizo, the sea creature, as Latin echinus.^[13]
• 1548 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of a fruit covered with a husk como la castaña.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the animal, the sea urchin and the chestnut husk.^[16][14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the husks of hazelnuts and acorns.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. hedgehog: a small nocturnal insect-eating mammal whose back and sides are covered with sharp spines and which rolls into a ball when threatened.^[4][1]
2. (chiefly in erizo de mar or erizo marino) A sea urchin.^[4][1]
3. A low, rounded, very spiny shrub of the pea family with blue or violet flowers, growing on stony ground (Erinacea anthyllis).^[4][21]
4. The bur of the cadillo plant.^[4]
5. The spiny husk in which chestnuts and some other fruits grow.^[4]
6. A porcupinefish: a tropical fish covered with spines that can inflate itself with air.^[4][21]
7. (colloquial) A prickly, unsociable person.^[4]
8. (military) A row of iron spikes fixed along the top of a wall or parapet.^[4]
9. (Mexico, as an adjective) With bristling hair.^[19]

Word family

• erizar
• erizado
• erizamiento
• erizo de mar

Related words

• erizón
• rizo
• Latin ericius
• Portuguese ouriço

Usage notes

Erizo is used as a noun of both genders, with the feminine eriza, but the masculine names the species.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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, 657
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. erizo
4. ^ 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. erizo
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ēricius
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. erizo
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ericius
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. oriç
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. erizo
11. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. erizo
12. ^ a b c Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 228
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 347
14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 757
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 544
16. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 756
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. erizo
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 615
19. ^ 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. erizo
20. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 499
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. erizo