gallina

Forms

gallina f (plural gallinas, masculine gallo, masculine plural gallos)^[1] Old Spanish texts write gallina, galina, gayllina, gaillina and gaullina.^[2] Asturian has the forms galla and gayia in the west, and gatsina in Luarca and Lena.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin gallīna (“hen”), the feminine of gallus (“cock”), formed with the suffix -īna.^[4][5][1][6] The masculine gave gallo.^[4][7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese galinha, Catalan gallina, Italian gallina, Romanian găină, Old French geline and Old Occitan galina.^[8][3][9]

De Vaan doubts that the Latin word for “cock” meant “the Gaulish bird”, since nothing suggests that chickens were thought to come from Gaul; he and Wiktionary mention a possible root Proto-Indo-European *gelH- (“to call”), as in Welsh galw (“to call”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from a charter of 1050 in Oelschläger's list.^[4][5] The earliest Spanish texts in the CDH are inventories and fueros of the 13th century; one list of goods taken from vassals counts .i. carnero & .vii. gallinas & .i. ola de mantega “one ram and seven hens and a pot of butter”.^[11] Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of watching al primero hueuo que pone la gallina “the first egg the hen lays”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “coward” is in the Diccionario de Autoridades, which explains it by the timidity of the bird and quotes the Inca Garcilaso: the Indians had the same saying as the Spaniards, calling a man gallina to brand him a coward.^[13] Autoridades also records the university use of gallina for the second speaker at a graduation, after the one called el gallo.^[13] The Academy's 1884 edition marks the sense “coward” as figurative and colloquial, of either gender, and lists gallina ciega “blind man's buff”.^[14] The current dictionary treats this use as a separate headword derived from the name of the bird.^[15]

In Cuba and Puerto Rico gallina is also a cock with short neck feathers like a hen's, and in Puerto Rican cockfighting one that stops fighting and crows.^[16] In the River Plate it is a nickname for supporters of the River Plate football club.^[1]

Timeline

• 1050 – first record, in a charter.^[4][5]
• 13th century – gallinas and galinas in inventories and fueros.^[11][2]
• 1250–79 – Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[12]
• 1495 – Nebrija records the derivatives gallinaza and gallinero.^[5]
• 1512 – first record in the Americas, gallinas pollas in Puerto Rico.^[17]
• 1513 – Nebrija defines it as a domestic bird, Latin gallina.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary has the sense “coward” and the etymology Del lat. gallina.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. hen: the female of the domestic fowl (gallo), smaller than the cock and with a smaller crest; also the species as a whole.^[7][19][1]
2. (colloquial) A coward, a timid person; masculine or feminine, also as an adjective: No seas gallina y tírate al agua.^[15][1]
3. (Cuba, Puerto Rico, rural) A cock whose short neck feathers look like a hen's.^[16]
4. (River Plate, football) A supporter of the club River Plate.^[1]

Word family

• gallinero
• gallinaza
• gallineta
• gallinazo

Related words

• gallináceo
• gallo
• Latin gallīna
• Portuguese galinha

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include gallina ciega “blind man's buff”, gallina de Guinea “guinea fowl” and gallina de agua “coot”.^[7][19] Acostarse con las gallinas is to go to bed very early.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. gallina
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. gallina
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 51
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gallo
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. gallina
7. ^ a b c 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. gallo
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. galinha
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. gallina
12. ^ 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. gallina
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 520
15. ^ a b 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. gallina
16. ^ 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. gallina
17. ^ 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. gallina
18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 356
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gallina