manojo

Forms

manojo m (plural manojos)^[1] Old Spanish texts spell it manojo, manoio and the plural manoios.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin manuculus (“handful, bundle”).^[3][4][1] Corominas explains this Vulgar Latin form as an alteration of classical Latin manipulus (“handful, sheaf”), whose ending was replaced by the frequent suffix -uculus.^[3] Wiktionary notes that the altered form is attested in the prefixed commanuculus and the shortened manuclus.^[1] Gómez de Silva writes it as a reconstruction and stresses that it stood for the classical word.^[5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese molho, Old Galician-Portuguese moolho, Galician monllo, Catalan manoll, Old Occitan manolh, Old French manoil, Italian mannocchio and Romanian mănunchi.^[6][7][3] The classical word is a compound of manus (“hand”) and the root of pleō (“to fill”), so its first sense was “a handful”.^[3][8][1] The noun for “hand” goes back to *manu- and *mon-u- (“hand”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy) has the oldest record: pilgrims burn very large manojos of candles, quemando de candelas mucho grandes manojos “burning great bundles of candles”.^[10][3] The sense is a bundle of long things held together, the sense the word keeps today.^[10][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word was used above all for bundles of cut grain: the Gospel of Matthew of about 1260 tells the reapers to bind the darnel manoios for burning, and Alfonso X's General estoria has Cain offer manojos de espigas, bundles of ears of grain.^[10][11] Nebrija and Covarrubias give Latin manipulus as its equivalent, and the Academy has defined it since the 18th century as a small bundle of herbs or other things that can be held in the hand.^[12][13][14] The adverbial phrase a manojos “in abundance” is in the Academy's dictionary of 1817, and today the noun alone also means “a good number, a set”.^[14][4]

Moliner extends it to groups of people, as in the set phrase ser un manojo de nervios “to be a bundle of nerves”.^[15] In Cuba and Puerto Rico a manojo is a measure of leaf tobacco of four bundles, about two pounds; in Honduras it is a small bunch of green leaves set to dry, or a unit of a hundred cigars.^[16][17] In León the word is limited to a sheaf of grain or of vine shoots.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Berceo writes of great manojos of candles, the first record.^[10]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses manoios for bundles of ears of grain.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives the Latin equivalents manipulus and merges.^[12]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, a bunch of liquorice in Puerto Rico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as a small bundle that can be grasped with the hand.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records the phrase a manojos “abundantly”.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's first etymology derives it from mano and compares Latin manipulus.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small bunch or bundle of things that can be held in one hand: un manojo de perejil.^[4][1]
2. A number or set of things; also a small group of people.^[4][15]
3. (Cuba, Puerto Rico) A bundle of leaf tobacco made of four smaller bundles.^[16][21]
4. (Honduras) A bunch of green tobacco leaves put to dry; a unit of a hundred cigars.^[17]

Word family

• manojuelo

Related words

• mano
• manípulo
• Latin manipulus
• Portuguese molho

Usage notes

A manojos means “in abundance”.^[4] Ser or estar hecho un manojo de nervios means to be very nervous.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. manojo
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 817
4. ^ 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. manojo
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 442
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. manuculum
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. manipulus
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. manojo
11. ^ 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. manojo
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 377
13. ^ 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. 1112
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 552
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. manojo
16. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 537
17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. manojo
18. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. manojo
19. ^ 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. manojo
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. 674
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. manojo