estopa

Forms

estopa f (plural estopas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish estopa, inherited from Latin stuppa (“tow, coarse flax”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas thinks the lack of records before the 14th century must be accidental, since the word surely existed from the beginnings of the language.^[2] From the Ibero-Romance languages it passed into the Romance and Arabic of al-Andalus, where it is recorded from Abenalyazzar (d. 1004) on.^[2][5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese estopa, Catalan estopa, Occitan estopa, French étoupe, Italian stoppa and Romanian stupă.^[6][5][1] A Germanic derivative of the Latin word gave estofa “cloth”.^[5][6]

The Latin word is from Ancient Greek στύππη (stúppē), which Wiktionary considers probably Pre-Greek or from another Mediterranean substrate.^[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–1250), in an ordeal in which the judge covers the hand with wax and lays tow or linen over it: pongal el estopa o el lino “let him put the tow or the linen on it”.^[9] Corominas's first record is in Aragonese inventories from 1330 on.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word meant the coarse part of flax or hemp left in the hackle, and already in Alfonso X's histories also old rope used, with pitch and resin, as a filling or caulking.^[10] Autoridades also records the coarse cloth woven of this yarn, with a price list of 1680 and Quevedo.^[11] Covarrubias (1611) records the proverb No está bien el fuego cabe las estopas, a warning against too much familiarity between men and women, and Autoridades adds La estopa cabe el mancebo, dígole fuego.^[12][11] The Academy added the nautical sense, old unravelled rope used to caulk ships, in 1843.^[13]

In colloquial Spain repartir estopa means to hand out blows or attacks.^[4] In Central America and Ecuador it names the fibrous husk of the coconut and the pulp left after a fruit is pressed; in Costa Rica the dried fruit of the paste, used as a scrubber.^[14][4] In Chile it was used for shavings scraped from certain woods for medicine.^[15]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first record in the CDH.^[9]
• 1221 – DEMel lists estopa in the Fuero de Plasencia.^[16]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses the word.^[10]
• 1330 – Aragonese inventories, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin stuppa.^[17]
• 1512 – first record from the Americas: twisted tow in Puerto Rico.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb No está bien el fuego cabe las estopas.^[12]
• 1732 – Autoridades records the coarse cloth made of tow.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the nautical sense of caulking material.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. tow: the coarse part of flax or hemp left in the hackle when it is combed.^[4][1]
2. The coarse part left from silk.^[4]
3. Coarse cloth woven from tow yarn.^[4]
4. A burr or fibrous fuzz that appears on some woods when they are worked.^[4]
5. (nautical) oakum: old unravelled rope used for caulking.^[4][1]
6. (Costa Rica) The dried fruit of the paste, used as a scrubber; the residue of fruit after the juice is pressed out.^[4][14]
7. (colloquial, Spain) Blows or a verbal attack, especially in repartir estopa: Los dos boxeadores repartieron estopa toda la noche.^[4]

Word family

• estopeño
• estopilla
• estoposo
• estopón

Related words

• estofa
• estropajo
• estoperol
• Latin stuppa
• Portuguese estopa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 793
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estopa
4. ^ 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. estopa
5. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 6380
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. stuppa
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. stuppa
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. stuppa
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. estopa
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. estopa
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 641
12. ^ 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. 809
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 326
14. ^ 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. estopa
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 628
16. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. estopa
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 351
18. ^ 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. estopa