marra

marra¹ gap, missing plant

Forms

marra f^[1]

Etymology

The word for a gap is from Spanish marrar (“to miss, fail”), a noun formed from the verb.^[1][2][3] The Academy has given this etymology since its dictionary of 1884.^[4]

The DLE derives the verb from the older Old Spanish marrir, from a Germanic *marrjan (“to annoy, hinder”), with its form influenced by errar (“to err, miss”).^[5] Wiktionary traces the verb to *marzijaną, the causative of an unattested strong verb *mersaną, from Proto-Indo-European *mers- (“to annoy, disturb, forget”).^[6] Corriente, Pereira and Vicente propose instead an Arabic source through Andalusian Arabic, Arabic مر (marra, “to pass; to go away”), which would also explain marro, the game in which the players often miss the mark.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Diccionario de Autoridades is the first to record the noun: a lack of something where it should be, said above all of vineyards whose rows are missing vines, which are then said to have many marras.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Salvá's dictionary of 1846 extended the definition to olive groves, and the Academy did the same in 1869.^[10][11] The Academy's definition has hardly changed since: a gap where a vine, an olive tree or another plant is missing from its row.^[1][12] In Andalusia the word also names a fault in the warp of a fabric, where threads are missing or left over.^[13]

Timeline

• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records marra “gap in the rows of a vineyard”.^[8]
• 1846 – Salvá adds olive groves to the definition.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy derives the noun from marrar.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gap or lack of something where it ought to be, especially a missing vine or olive tree in the rows of a vineyard or an olive grove: El viñedo tiene varias marras este año.^[1][12][2]

marra² sledgehammer

Etymology tree of marra²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin marra

Spanish marra

Forms

marra f^[1]

Etymology

The word for a sledgehammer is inherited from Latin marra (“a kind of hoe or mattock”).^[14][15][1] Corominas describes it as a little-used word, which Autoridades records only on the authority of Nebrija.^[14]

The same Latin word gave Italian marra, French marre, Occitan marra and Portuguese marra (“iron mallet”).^[16] The Galician marra is still the iron mallet of the quarries, and a Galician-Portuguese cantiga of mockery already names it beside the pick.^[14] García de Diego lists the derivatives marrazo (“axe”) and marrojo.^[17]

The Latin word is fairly late, first found in Columella and Pliny for a hoe used to tear out weeds, and in Pliny also for a hook used to catch fish.^[18][19][14] The OLD compares Classical Syriac ܡܪܐ (marra) and Akkadian marru, and Corominas reports Walde and Hofmann's view that the Latin word was taken from a Semitic language.^[18][14] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain: perhaps Semitic through Ancient Greek μάρρον (márrhon), or, as Stefan Höfler proposes, from Proto-Indo-European *merh₂- (“to crush”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to 1490, and Nebrija's dictionaries give marra o almadana, with the Latin marrae.^[15][14][20] The Old Spanish Textual Archive has the word in five texts from 1492 on.^[21]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias leaves the word out, but other Golden Age dictionaries have it, and Percyvall in 1591 renders it as a paring shovel.^[14][22] Autoridades equates it with almadana “stone-breaking hammer” and calls it a word of late Latin.^[8] Terreros glosses it as a pruning knife.^[23] The Academy has defined it as almádena since 1817 and has derived it from Latin marra since 1884.^[24][4][1] Today it is an iron hammer with a long handle for breaking stones.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1490 – first record, according to Corominas.^[15]
• 1492 – the earliest of the texts with the word in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[21]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives marra o almadana with the Latin marrae.^[20]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it as “a paring shouell”.^[22]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records it only from Nebrija and Pedro de Alcalá.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin marra.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sledgehammer: an iron hammer with a long handle for breaking stones; an almádena.^[1][2][12]

Word family

• marrazo