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losa

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word losa

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1210 More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin lausia
Ultimate origin
Latin lausia

Pronunciation

  • /ˈlosa/, [ˈlo.sa][1]

Forms

losa f (plural losas)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lausia, a word of Celtic origin and, further back, of Hispanic origin, as the DLE puts it.[2][3] Corominas starts from a pre-Roman *lausa (“flagstone; slate”), spread over the whole Iberian Peninsula, southern and south-eastern France and Piedmont.[4][5] The Latin derivative is already found in a Roman inscription from Lusitania, in the phrase lapides lausiae (“stones like flagstones”).[4][5][1]

Corominas finds the source uncertain: it does not look Iberian, and in his Catalan dictionary he thinks it probably Indo-European but unlikely to be Celtic.[4][5] Wiktionary takes it through Gaulish or Celtiberian *lausia from Proto-Celtic *plousā (“stone slab”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pleus- (“to pluck out”) (compare Old Norse flus (“peelings”)) or from a Proto-Basque word for a stone slab.[1]

The same word is Catalan llosa, Portuguese lousa (recorded from 1115) and Asturian lloxa (“slate”).[5][6][7] Older views took it from Arabic: Covarrubias and Autoridades from a supposed Arabic word for a flagstone, the Academy in 1884 from an Arabic word for a wide board.[8][9][10] Eguílaz held that the Hispano-Arabic word for a stone and a slab trap, in Ramón Martí and Pedro de Alcalá, was only a transcription of the Castilian word, which he took to be Latin.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) uses the word for a trap set with a slab: whoever sets off another's çepo … o lazo, o losa must reset it.[12] The Fueros of Cáceres and Usagre have titles De losas and Qui ouiere losas, and a 13th-century book of proverbs speaks of una eglesia de losas, a church paved with slabs.[12]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija in about 1495 distinguished the bird trap (decipula) from the paving slab (crusta marmorea).[13] Covarrubias in 1611 described a flat, worked stone used to pave churches and courtyards, and records the trap losilla with the proverb cogiole en losilla “he caught him out”.[8] Autoridades kept both senses.[9] The Academy in 1843 added the phrases echar una losa encima, to promise to keep a secret, and echar una losa sobre el corazón, to cause great sorrow; in 1869 it added the sense “tomb”.[14][15]

Today it is also a heavy burden, figuratively.[3][16] In several South American countries it is a slab of concrete, and in Chile the apron of an airport or bus station; in Puerto Rico la losa is popular speech for the metropolitan area of San Juan.[17][18] In the Dominican Republic it means a marble, and in La Palma a concrete roof.[19][20]

Timeline

  • 1177 – DEMel's first primary record, in the charters of San Vicente de Oviedo.[21]
  • 1210 – Corominas's date of first record.[4]
  • 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita uses it for a trap.[12]
  • 1490 – the derivative losado is recorded, and in 1495 enlosar.[4]
  • 1528 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.[22]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias proposes an Arabic or Greek origin.[8]
  • 1843 – the Academy records the phrase echar una losa encima.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flagstone or slab: a flat, thin stone, usually dressed, used for paving and other purposes: Cubrieron el patio con losas de granito.[2][1]
  2. A floor tile (baldosa).[2][3]
  3. A trap made of small slabs, for catching birds or mice.[2][3]
  4. A tomb, a grave covered with a slab.[2]
  5. (figurative) A heavy burden: Aquella deuda era una losa para la familia.[3][16]
  6. (Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay) A concrete slab laid over a steel frame.[17]
  7. (Puerto Rico, colloquial) The metropolitan area of San Juan.[17][18]

Word family

  • enlosar
  • losado
  • loseta
  • losilla
  • Catalan llosa
  • Portuguese lousa

Usage notes

Echar or poner una losa encima is to promise firmly to keep a secret.[2][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. losa
  3. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. losa
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. losa
  5. ^ a b c d Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 270
  6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lousa
  7. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. lloxa
  8. ^ 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. 1093
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 433
  10. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 652
  11. ^ Eguílaz y Yanguas, Leopoldo de (1886), Glosario etimológico de las palabras españolas (castellanas, catalanas, gallegas, mallorquinas, portuguesas, valencianas y bascongadas) de origen oriental, Granada: La Lealtad, p. 463
  12. ^ 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. losa
  13. ^ 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. losa
  14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 444
  15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 472
  16. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. losa
  17. ^ 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. losa
  18. ^ 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. losa
  19. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. losa
  20. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. losa
  21. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. losa
  22. ^ 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. losa

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Losa.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/losa. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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