hoguera

Forms

hoguera f (plural hogueras)^[1] Old Spanish wrote foguera; the form hoguera is found by the end of the 15th century.^[2][3] Salamanca has hogalera.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish foguera, inherited from Vulgar Latin *focāria, the feminine of Late Latin focārius (“of the hearth”), from focus (“hearth, fireplace”).^[5][1][6] In Latin the noun meant only “kitchen maid, cook”, but Corominas considers the Iberian formation old: it is shared with Portuguese fogueira, Galician fogueira, Asturian foguera, Catalan foguera and some dialects of northern Italy, and it passed into Moroccan Arabic and Berber as a word for “bonfire” and “brazier”, reaching as far as the Nile.^[6][7][4] The masculine Vulgar Latin *focārium gave French foyer “hearth”.^[8]

The ⟨f⟩ of Old Spanish became ⟨h⟩, as in fuego beside hogar;^[3][1] Nebrija already writes ⟨hoguera⟩ and ⟨huego⟩, and the ⟨h⟩ is silent today.^[3][1] De Vaan finds no acceptable Indo-European etymology for the Latin noun for “hearth”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Vida de San Millán (c. 1230, in an 18th-century copy) says that holy prayer made them burn more than a great fire: los fazié arder qe una grand foguera.^[10][11] The first record in a dated original manuscript is Alfonso X's Picatrix (1256): faz grand foguera de llenna de nogal et quemalo “make a great fire of walnut wood and burn it”.^[10][12]

Semantic evolution

The word has always meant a large open fire.^[5][13] Nebrija glosses it with Latin incendium and pyra, and with rogus for a pyre to burn the dead.^[3][14] Covarrubias describes bonfires lit to burn the dead in antiquity, to purify the air in time of plague, and for rejoicing on the feast of St John and at the births of princes, and quotes the saying of a witch led to be burnt, Lleuadme cauallera, y sea a la hoguera.^[15]

The Diccionario de Autoridades stresses fires lit to celebrate a feast or good news, and quotes a history of Chile for a woman burnt in one.^[13] Terreros adds fires for burning condemned criminals and for sending signals.^[13][16] Domínguez (1846–1847) also defines it as the punishment of the Inquisition.^[17] Moliner records a figurative sense, a violent love or other passion.^[18] In Asturias foguera also names a night festival on the eve of a feast day.^[6][19]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo has foguera.^[11][2]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre.^[10]
• 1256 – Alfonso X's Picatrix, the first record in a dated original.^[10][12]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España tells of a great bonfire of wood made in a square.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes hoguera, with Latin incendium, pyra and rogus.^[3][14]
• 1532 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the bonfires of St John.^[15]
• 1846–1847 – Domínguez names the burning of heretics by the Inquisition.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from foguera and fuego.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bonfire: a fire made in the open air with fuel that raises a large flame: Encendieron una hoguera junto al río.^[5][1]
2. The stake: death by burning as a punishment: condenado a la hoguera.^[1][17]
3. (figurative) A violent love or other passion.^[18]

Related words

• fuego
• hogar
• fogata
• hogaza
• Portuguese fogueira
• Catalan foguera

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 254
3. ^ a b c d e Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 363
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2838
5. ^ 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. hoguera
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 968
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. hoguera
11. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fuego
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. hoguera
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 164
14. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. hoguera
15. ^ 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. 985
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 299
17. ^ a b c Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 957
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hoguera
19. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. foguera
20. ^ 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. foguera
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 571