gafa

Forms

gafa f (plural gafas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Catalan gafa (“hook, clasp”), a derivative of the verb gafar or agafar (“to grasp, take”).^[2][3][1] The DCECH points out that Castilian keeps the intervocalic /f/ here, which shows that the word came from Catalan or Occitan;^[1] Catalan has the noun from 1371 and very often from 1373.^[2][4]

The origin of the Catalan and Occitan family is uncertain.^[2][4] In the DCECH Corominas takes the verb as the base word, and derives it from a pre-Roman root of the language he calls Sorothaptic, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰabʰ- (“to grasp, take”), the root of habeō (“to have”) and of Celtic and Slavic verbs for “to take”.^[2] He rejects a Celtic origin, because Celtic would have a /b/ there, finds a reconstructed Gothic *gaffa unsupported, and dismisses an Arabic word for “scale pan” proposed by earlier scholars.^[2] He also weighs the Arabic adjective for “contracted, with bent fingers”, the source he accepts for Old Spanish gafo “leper”, and rejects it on the meaning and the geography of the word.^[2] The BDELC, by contrast, gives that Arabic word as the possible source of both Spanish words, and Bénaben follows it: the word for something “contracted, curled” named hooked tools.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH finds the word first in a poem by Quirós in a 15th-century Castilian cancionero, and notes that Nebrija, Palencia and the medieval inventories lack it.^[2] The Fuero of Madrid and other fueros of the 13th century have gafa among the insults to a woman, but that is the feminine of gafo “leper”, not this word.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries the word mainly named the hooked tool used to draw back the string of a crossbow: inventories in the Americas list ballestas con sus cajas y gafas from 1512, and Covarrubias and Autoridades describe it in detail.^[7][2][8] Góngora already used it for “spectacles”, from the hooked arms that hold them on the ears.^[2][5]

The Academy's 1843 dictionary defined gafas as the clips that fix spectacles to the temples or the ears, and, colloquially, as the spectacles themselves.^[9] That sense has become the main one: the DLE now lists first, in the plural, the frame with two lenses that corrects or protects the sight, then goggles and virtual-reality glasses; the hook, the clamp and the crossbow tool come after.^[3][10] Vox marks the spectacles sense as Spanish of Spain and gives anteojos and lentes as synonyms;^[1] Wiktionary also notes it in Colombia and the Dominican Republic.^[10][1]

Timeline

• 1371 – Catalan gafa in Jacme Marc's dictionary.^[2][4]
• 15th century – first Castilian record, in a poem by Quirós.^[2][4]
• 1512 – crossbows con sus cajas y gafas in Puerto Rico.^[7]
• 1570 – recorded in C. de las Casas's dictionary.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias mentions the crossbow gafas.^[2]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the crossbow tool and reports Covarrubias's Hebrew etymology.^[8]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary records gafas “spectacles” as colloquial.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Breton and Gaelic words for “hook”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chiefly in the plural, chiefly Spain) glasses, spectacles: two lenses in a frame that rests on the nose and is held by the ears, to correct or protect the sight: Se le empañan las gafas cuando entra en casa.^[3][10][1]
2. Each of the arms that hook spectacles to the ears.^[3][12]
3. (chiefly in the plural) Goggles for swimming, diving, welding and similar work; also glasses for virtual reality.^[3][10]
4. A tool for drawing back the string of a crossbow (ballesta) until it engages the nut.^[3][8]
5. A clamp (grapa), a metal piece for joining two things; a hook.^[3][12][1]
6. (nautical) A kind of tongs for lifting heavy loads.^[3][12]
7. (in the plural, building) A pair of hooks on ropes for raising and lowering materials.^[3][12]

Word family

• gafete
• gafotas

Related words

• gafo
• Catalan agafar
• Catalan gafa

Usage notes

Gafas “glasses” is used mostly in the plural with a singular meaning, though the DLE also allows the singular.^[3] The feminine gafa of the adjective gafo “leprous” is a different word, which the DCECH derives from Arabic.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 14
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. gafa
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gafa
5. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. gafa
6. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. gafa
7. ^ 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. gafa
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 2
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 356
10. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. gafa
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 517
12. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gafa