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espiga

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word espiga

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1200 Almerich, La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin spica via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin spica
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin spīca
Italian spiga
Spanish espiga
English spike
From the same root
Latin spīceus ← spīca

Pronunciation

  • /esˈpiɡa/, [esˈpi.ɣ̞a][1]

Forms

espiga f (plural espigas)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish espiga, inherited from Latin spica (“ear of grain”).[1][2][3][4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese espiga, Catalan espiga, Italian spiga, Sardinian ispiga, Romansh spia and Romanian spic.[5][6][7][1] French épi continues the variant spicum.[8][9] Varro reports a rustic form speca.[10][11]

De Vaan reconstructs *speikā- and *speig-, and compares Germanic words for pointed objects such as Old High German speihha and Old English spāca (“spoke”); he gives no further etymology.[12] Wiktionary connects it, more tentatively, with *spey- (“sharp stick”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Almerich's Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in Pharaoh's dream of seven ears of grain en una canna, bien plenas e bien gruessas “on one stalk, very full and very plump”.[13][14] The first record in a manuscript of its own time is the Fuero de Zorita (1218–c. 1250), which punishes whoever gathers ears in another's field.[13] Corominas dates the word 1220–1250.[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's astronomy used the word for Spica, the bright star in the palm of Virgo, a sense already Latin.[15][11] Nebrija glossed espiga de pan as Latin spica; by 1611 Covarrubias recorded the carpenter's sense, the end of one piece of wood that fits into another, and Autoridades added the wooden peg and the small headless nail.[16][17][18] In the Americas the word named the tang of a tool by 1546 and the ear of maize by 1571.[19]

The DLE now also gives the hilt end of a sword blade, a bell's clapper, a graft, the masthead and a galley sail;[20][4] Moliner adds the herringbone pattern of a fabric, and medicine a spike on an electrocardiogram.[3][20][4] In Puerto Rico it is the flower of the sugar cane, and in Chile the peg to which the yoke is tied.[21][22]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy) tells Pharaoh's dream of the seven ears.[13]
  • 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita has espigas, the first record in a contemporary manuscript.[13]
  • 1220–1250 – first record according to Corominas.[2]
  • 1256 – the Picatrix of Alfonso X describes a woman holding una espiga de trigo.[13][15]
  • 1277 – Alfonso X's astronomical books name the star Spica espiga.[15]
  • c. 1400 – the derivative espigar is first recorded.[2]
  • 1546 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, for the tang of a tool.[19]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records the carpenter's sense.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (botany) A spike: an inflorescence whose flowers sit directly along an axis, as in the plantain.[3][20]
  2. An ear of wheat or another cereal, the fruiting spike: Las espigas ya doraban el campo.[3][1]
  3. The tang of a tool or other object, thinned to fit into a handle; the upper part of a sword blade, where the hilt is fixed.[3]
  4. (carpentry) A tenon; a wooden peg or dowel; a small headless iron nail.[3][1]
  5. The narrow end of a step of a spiral staircase, joined to the central post.[3]
  6. A scion for grafting, the same as púa; the clapper of a bell (badajo); a fuse, the same as espoleta.[3]
  7. (nautical) The head of a mast or topmast; formerly, one of the sails of a galley.[3]
  8. A herringbone pattern, especially in a woven fabric.[20]
  9. (medicine) A sharp peak on an electrocardiogram or similar tracing.[4]
  10. (Puerto Rico) The flower of the sugar cane.[21][23]

Word family

  • espigar
  • espigón
  • espigueo
  • respigar
  • espigado
  • espiguilla
  • espicanardo
  • espigador
  • Latin spica
  • French épi

Usage notes

The colloquial phrase quedarse a la espiga means to stay to the end to profit from the leftovers.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espiga
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. espiga
  4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. espiga
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. spīca
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. spica
  7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 643
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. épi
  9. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. épi
  10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. spīca
  11. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spīca
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. espiga
  14. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. espiga
  15. ^ a b c 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. espiga
  16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 350
  17. ^ 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. 793
  18. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 603
  19. ^ 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. espiga
  20. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espiga
  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. espiga
  22. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 402
  23. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. espiga

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Espiga.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/espiga. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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