jamelgo

Forms

jamelgo m (plural jamelgos, feminine jamelga, feminine plural jamelgas)^[1] Older forms are hamelgo and famelgo.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin famēlicus (“hungry, famished”), an adjective formed on famēs (“hunger”).^[3][1][4] Following Menéndez Pidal, Corominas calls it a semi-popular doublet of the learned famélico, recorded from 1528.^[5] The REW and García de Diego record the word as Andalusian, and Segura explains the j- by the aspirated pronunciation of Latin f-;^[6][2][7] Wiktionary compares the same irregular change in joder, from futuō.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician famelgo (“hungry”); popular Portuguese has famelga (“person with a hungry face”), and in Bairrada famelgo means a sly fellow.^[5][6] The Academy's dictionary of 1899 had derived the word from a Basque diminutive of zamari (“horse”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the poems of José Somoza (1811–1842): mi jamelgo y un trabuco “my nag and a blunderbuss”.^[9] Corominas knew it only from Juan Valera and the Academy's dictionary of 1884.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's dictionary of 1884 defines it as a very bad horse or one of very poor appearance;^[10] the DLE now says thin and ungainly, from hunger, and Moliner adds old or of little use.^[3][11] Galdós and Pereda use it in the 1870s.^[9] It is recorded in Puerto Rico in 1849 and in Medellín and Mexico later.^[12] In Puerto Rico it also names the fatty tissue of the belly of a person or animal.^[13]

Timeline

• 1528 – the learned doublet famélico appears in Antonio de Guevara.^[5]
• 1811–1842 – the first record, in José Somoza's poems.^[9]
• 1849 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy enters the word, which its 1869 edition lacked.^[10][5]
• 1899 – the Academy proposes a Basque origin.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial) A thin, ungainly horse, weak from hunger; a nag: Llegó al pueblo montado en un jamelgo cojo.^[3][11][1]
2. (Puerto Rico) The fatty tissue of the belly of a person or animal.^[13]

Related words

• famélico
• hambre
• Latin famelicus
• Galician famelgo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. famelicus
3. ^ 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. jamelgo
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 312
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 281
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 572
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. jamelgo
10. ^ 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. 613
11. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. jamelgo
12. ^ 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. jamelgo
13. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. jamelgo