espolín

espolín¹ fixed spur

Forms

espolín m (plural espolines)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the fixed spur is formed from Spanish espuela + -ín, a diminutive “small spur”.^[2][3][4] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of espuela, with the Argentine variant espuelín.^[5] The base word is *spaúra (“spur”).^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's dictionary first records the fixed spur on the heel of a boot in 1843, and Domínguez notes that some could be screwed on and off.^[7][8] The 1899 edition adds a grass with long, white-haired awns, used in places for decorations.^[9] The DLE adds a plural sense of transport: a pair of logs hooked to the back of a cart or lorry to make a ramp for loading barrels.^[1] In 1866 a Bogotá writer speaks of a heel too worn even to take an espolín.^[10]

Timeline

• 1843 – the Academy records the spur fixed to a boot heel.^[7]
• 1866 – first record in the Americas, in Bogotá.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy calls it a diminutive of espuela and separates it from the weaving term.^[2]
• 1899 – the grass sense enters the Academy's dictionary.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spur fixed to the heel of a boot.^[1][3]
2. A feather grass (Stipa pennata), with leaves like esparto and panicles with long, white-haired awns.^[1][3]
3. (in the plural) A pair of logs hooked at one end to the back of a cart or lorry and resting on the ground at the other, used as a ramp to load and unload barrels and drums.^[1]

espolín² small shuttle; brocaded silk

Forms

espolín m (plural espolines)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the small shuttle and the silk woven with it is borrowed from Occitan espoulin (“weaver's bobbin”), or French espoulin; the Occitan word is a diminutive of espol, from *spōla (“bobbin”).^[11][1] Since the French word is found only from 1723 and Old French espole is very rare, Corominas thinks the source was probably Occitan, and rules out a native Germanic word in Spanish because the sense is so specialised and the simple word is missing.^[11] The Academy's 1884 edition derived it from French, and Echegaray did the same.^[2][12]

The Germanic word is Old High German spuolo, German Spule and Icelandic spóla.^[11][1] Italian spola (“shuttle”) has the same source, and its diminutive spoletta gave espoleta.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest dated hits are in Madrid in the early 1620s, all for the cloth: una toca de espolin “a headdress of espolín” in an inventory of 1622, and a duke's master of the horse dressed de espolin azul y negro “in blue and black espolín” in a letter of 1623.^[13] Corominas's first record of the cloth is the price list of 1627, and of the shuttle Autoridades.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defined both senses, the small shuttle with which the flowers of silk, gold or silver fabrics are woven separately, and the silk cloth with scattered, overwoven flowers named after it, like the brocade of its time.^[14] It quotes the price list of 1627: each vara of black espolín at fifteen reales.^[14] Terreros adds that there was also woollen espolín.^[15] In Lima in the 1790s espolines are named beside satins and lamés.^[10]

Timeline

• 1622 – an inventory in Madrid lists una toca de espolin.^[13]
• 1627 – a royal price list sets the price of black espolín (Corominas's first record).^[11][14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the shuttle and the cloth.^[14][11]
• 1791 – first record in the Americas, in Lima.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small shuttle used to weave separately the flowers that are worked into silk, gold or silver fabrics.^[1][3]
2. A silk fabric with scattered flowers, like gold or silk brocade.^[1][3]

Word family

• espolinar