langosta

Forms

langosta f (plural langostas)^[1] Old Spanish also had lagosta, the form of the Primera Crónica General, the Fueros de Aragón and Nebrija;^[2][3] Asturian has llagosta for the lobster.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish langosta, inherited from Vulgar Latin *lacusta, a variant of Latin locusta (“locust; lobster”).^[2][3][1] The DLE derives it from the older Spanish form lagosta.^[4] Corominas thinks the variants with ⟨a⟩ and with ⟨n⟩ already existed in Late Latin, the ⟨a⟩ perhaps due to lacus (“fishpond”) or lacertus (“lizard”).^[2] For the ⟨n⟩ he offers two explanations: Isidore's derivation of the Latin word from “long feet” suggests that he said *longusta, influenced by longus (“long”), or the nasal spread from langostino, whose Latin source Late Latin lucustinus is old.^[2] Bénaben instead takes the word as a loan from Old Occitan langosta.^[5]

Forms without ⟨n⟩, from the variant with ⟨a⟩, are found across Romance: Portuguese lagosta, Galician lagosta, Catalan llagosta, Old French laoste and Romanian lăcustă.^[2][6] The form with ⟨n⟩ is also in Occitan langosta, the source of French langouste.^[3][6]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown: de Vaan notes that the only similar word is lacerta (“lizard”), with no common preform in sight, and suggests that both may be borrowings.^[7] Corominas thinks the first sense was “grasshopper”, extended to the lobster by the likeness of the legs.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is the heading De la langosta in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (1200–1250, in a 13th-century copy).^[8][9] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 have lagostas devouring the crops.^[8] Corominas's first records are 13th-century Bible translations, for the insect.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sea crustacean is called lagosta in the Alfonsine Picatrix (1256), also lagosta del mar;^[10][2] Corominas's first record of this sense is Juan Ruiz.^[10][2] Covarrubias in 1611 describes the insect as a plague sent by God for men's sins, and says the sea creature took its name from its likeness to the land one.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds the figurative sense “swindler, plunderer”, quoting Quevedo.^[12] The DLE still has a figurative sense, a person or thing that eats up or destroys another.^[4]

In the Americas the insect is recorded from 1515 on, and in 1519 Fernández de Enciso writes that people in Africa comen lagostas “eat locusts”.^[13][14] In Honduras and Panama the word names a moth larva that strips the maize, and in Puerto Rican youth slang a person with a large backside.^[15]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has langosta, in a 13th-century copy.^[8][9]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón have lagostas.^[8]
• 1256 – the Alfonsine Picatrix uses lagosta for the sea crustacean.^[10]
• c. 1280 – lagosta in the Primera Crónica General.^[3][2]
• 1495 – langostín (later langostino) is first recorded.^[3]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes both the insect and the sea creature.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the figurative “swindler”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. locusta”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. locust: an orthopteran insect like a large grasshopper (saltamontes), greyish-yellow, which at times multiplies into swarms that strip the fields.^[4][1]
2. lobster, spiny lobster: a large sea crustacean with long antennae and a thick tail, reddish when cooked and prized as food.^[4][1]
3. (colloquial) A person or thing that consumes or destroys another: Esos chicos son la langosta de la nevera.^[4][17]
4. (Honduras, Panama) A moth larva that strips maize plants.^[15]
5. (Puerto Rico, youth slang) A person with a very large backside.^[15][18]

Word family

• langostino
• langostero
• langostón

Related words

• Latin locusta
• French langouste
• Portuguese lagosta

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 575
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. langosta
4. ^ a b c d e 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. langosta
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. langosta
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. langosta
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. langosta
10. ^ a b c 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. langosta
11. ^ 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. 1066
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 358
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. lagosta
14. ^ Grupo IATEXT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, AMERLEX: corpus of americanisms in early texts on the Americas (online database), p. s.v. langosta
15. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. langosta
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 629
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. langosta
18. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. langosta