escamoso

Forms

escamoso (feminine escamosa, masculine plural escamosos, feminine plural escamosas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin squamosus (“scaly”), according to the DLE, Wiktionary, García de Diego and the REW.^[2][1][3][4] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of escama “scale”, with its first record in 1438, and the Diccionario de Autoridades traced it to Latin squameus or the adjective above.^[5][6] Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed as the noun with the suffix -oso.^[1]

The Latin adjective is the source of Romanian scămos, Italian squamoso and Portuguese escamoso; Catalan escamós was taken from Latin.^[4][7] French squameux is a relatinised form of Old French eschamous.^[8]

The Latin adjective is formed from squama (“scale”) and the suffix -ōsus.^[9][1] Wiktionary connects the noun with squalus (“filthy”), or perhaps with *(s)kewH- (“to cover”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word 1438.^[5][10] The Diccionario de Autoridades quoted Juan de Mena's Coronación for a creature whose great body was cubierto de escamosas conchas “covered with scaly shells”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija defined the word as “full of scales” and Covarrubias as said of a fish that has scales;^[11][12] Autoridades extended it to land animals with scales.^[11][12][6] In the Americas it was used in 1582 of a flaky grain of ore in the Río de la Plata.^[13] Zoology uses it for the scaled reptiles, lizards and snakes, and the plural noun for their order; medicine for the squamous epithelium.^[2][14][15] In Colombia it is said of a touchy person, and in Puerto Rico of a person or thing so dirty that it is almost crusted.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1438 – first record, according to Corominas.^[5]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it as Latin squammosus.^[11]
• 1582 – first record from the Americas, in the Río de la Plata.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias applies it to fish with scales.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Juan de Mena's Coronación.^[6]
• 1917 – Alemany gives the etymology from Latin squamosus.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. scaly: having scales (escamas): La piel del lagarto es escamosa al tacto.^[2][1]
2. (zoology) Of a reptile: covered with scales and without a shell or external skeleton, like lizards and snakes; also a noun, and in the plural the order of these reptiles.^[2][14]
3. (medicine) squamous, of or like scales; of the squamous epithelium.^[15]
4. (Colombia, colloquial) Of a person, touchy, easily offended.^[16]
5. (Puerto Rico, colloquial) Extremely dirty, nearly crusted with grime.^[16][17]

Related words

• escama
• escamar
• Latin squamosus
• English squamous

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. escamoso
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. squamosus
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. squāmōsus
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escama
6. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 551
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. escamós
8. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. squameux
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. squāmōsus
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 729
11. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 348
12. ^ 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. 760
13. ^ 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. escamoso
14. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escamoso
15. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. escamoso
16. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. escamoso
17. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. escamoso
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 693