huso

Forms

huso m (plural husos)^[1] Old Spanish wrote fuso, the form still used in Santander and Salamanca.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fuso, inherited from Latin fūsus (“spindle”).^[2][4][5][1] The Latin word is of unknown origin;^[6][7][1] Wiktionary suggests a non-Indo-European substrate.^[6][7][1]

The same word is Portuguese fuso, Galician fuso, Asturian fusu, Catalan fus, Italian fuso and Romanian fus.^[3][8] French fuseau continues a diminutive of Old French fus.^[7][1] Corominas notes that the word is general in all periods and common to all the Romance languages.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a copy of the late 13th century) a man pulls out an iron bar as easily como farié un fuso “as one would a spindle”.^[9][2] Alfonso X's Lapidario mentions the whorls que meten en los fusos con que filan “that are put on the spindles they spin with”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija and Covarrubias wrote the word huso;^[11][12] Covarrubias describes the woman's spindle, onto which the yarn drawn from the distaff is twisted.^[11][12] Autoridades distinguished the spinning spindle, a larger one for twisting yarn, and an iron spindle for winding silk.^[13] The phrase más derecho que un huso “straighter than a spindle” praises someone very straight or upright.^[14][15]

Later senses came from the shape: a long narrow lozenge in heraldry and the drum of a winch in mining by 1917, and the huso esférico of geometry.^[16][5] Modern dictionaries add huso horario, the time zone.^[17][5]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Berceo has fuso.^[9][2][4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario mentions the whorls on spindles.^[10]
• 1490 – first record of the derivative husillo.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives huso para hilar with Latin fusus.^[11][18]
• 1540 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the spindle and its use.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines three kinds of spindle.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin fusus.^[20]
• 1917 – Alemany adds the heraldic and mining senses.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spindle: a hand tool, usually of wood, round and tapering towards both ends, used to twist the fibre into thread and wind it as it is spun.^[5][1][17]
2. A thicker, longer spindle used to join and twist two or more threads.^[5]
3. An iron rod with a weighted head, used to wind silk.^[5][17]
4. (heraldry) A long, narrow lozenge.^[5]
5. (technology) The cylinder of a winch (torno).^[5]
6. huso horario: a time zone, one of the 24 parts into which meridians divide the earth's surface.^[5][17]
7. huso esférico (geometry): the part of a sphere's surface between two planes meeting along a diameter.^[5]

Word family

• husillo
• husada

Related words

• fusiforme
• Latin fūsus
• Portuguese fuso

Usage notes

The set phrase ser más derecho que un huso means to be very straight or upright.^[14][15] Galician and Portuguese parafuso “screw” is also derived from fuso, though its formation is unclear.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 434
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3003
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. huso
5. ^ 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. huso
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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. huso
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. huso
11. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 364
12. ^ 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. 1, 1006
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 195
14. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
16. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
17. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
18. ^ 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
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 581