gallofo

Forms

gallofo m (plural gallofos, feminine gallofa, feminine plural gallofas)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Spanish gallofa (“a piece of bread given as alms”): Corominas lists the word, in the sense “beggar”, among the derivatives of that noun, and García de Diego and Moliner also derive the family from it.^[2][3][4] The DLE marks the word as of unknown origin.^[5]

For the noun, Corominas thinks it probably contains Latin gallus (“Frenchman”), which came to mean “pilgrim” because most of the pilgrims to Compostela were French, and that it may go back to a phrase Medieval Latin galli offa (“the pilgrim's morsel”) made up in the Latin of medieval monasteries.^[2] Covarrubias had already explained it in 1611 as the crust of bread given to the poor French pilgrims on their way to Santiago, whom he calls by the old name of the Gauls.^[6] García de Diego instead files gallofa, this word and gallofero under Ancient Greek κέλυφος (kélyphos, “husk, shell”), beside Catalan and Valencian words for “shell” such as Catalan clofolla.^[3][7]

Corominas has the word passing from Spanish into Catalan gallòfol in the 15th century and names Occitan galhofo and Italian gaglioffo (early 14th century) beside it.^[2] Nocentini also takes the Italian word from the Spanish noun and adjective.^[8] The DELI, however, finds Medieval Latin gaiufus in Venice as early as 1283 and gagliuffus at Imola in 1334, both used of vagrants whom innkeepers were forbidden to lodge, and rejects the usual explanation of the Italian word from gagliardo crossed with goffo as unconvincing.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates gallofo “beggar” to about 1400.^[2] The Old Spanish Textual Archive has it in Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo's Espejo de la vida humana, printed at Zaragoza in 1491, and in the Trapesonda of 1533.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 describes the gallofo as a pauper who, without being ill, goes about idle and turns up at mealtimes at the gates of convents, where charity is given, above all to pilgrims.^[6] The Academy's dictionaries from 1817 on treat it as an adjective, the same as gallofero, and the 1899 edition adds that it is also used as a noun.^[11][12] The DLE still refers the reader to gallofero.^[5] Moliner glosses both forms as “vagabond”.^[4] The word was still used in 20th-century Mexico, in phrases such as gallofos y malandrines “beggars and scoundrels” (1942).^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – first record of gallofo “beggar”, according to Corominas.^[2]
• 1491 – it appears in Sánchez de Arévalo's Espejo de la vida humana, printed at Zaragoza.^[10]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the idle beggars at convent gates and connects the word with the French pilgrims to Santiago.^[6]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary enters it as an adjective, the same as gallofero.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy adds that it is also used as a noun.^[12]
• 1942 – it is recorded in Mexico City.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Living as a beggar or vagrant on alms instead of working; the same as gallofero.^[5][4]

Noun

1. A beggar, an idle vagabond: Iba de puerta en puerta como un gallofo.^[5][1][4]

Related words

• gallofa
• gallofero
• gallofear
• Italian gaglioffo

Usage notes

The DLE lists under the same headword the feminine noun gallofa, with senses of its own: the food given to poor pilgrims coming from France to Santiago de Compostela, greens for salads and stews, an idle tale, the yearly calendar of the divine office, and in Cantabria and Biscay a long spongy bread roll.^[5] The phrases andar a la gallofa and darse a la gallofa mean the same as gallofear, to go begging.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gallofa
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3649
4. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gallofo
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. gallofo
6. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 889
7. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. gagliòffo
9. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. gagliòffo
10. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 435
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 483
13. ^ 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. gallofo