mecha

Forms

mecha f (plural mechas)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas considers it probably borrowed from French mèche, taken at an early date; the DLE and Wiktionary present the French source as only possible.^[2][3][4][1] Portuguese mecha is the same word, and he leaves open whether the Spanish and Portuguese word is native or French.^[2] Catalan metxa (1643) is not a native word there; the native Catalan word for a wick is ble.^[2]

The French word itself is of uncertain origin.^[2][3] Comparison with Occitan meca points to a base Vulgar Latin *mecca, perhaps pre-Roman.^[2][3] The derivation from Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “mucus; lamp wick”), through Latin myxa (“lamp wick”), goes back to Diez.^[2] Corominas rejects it on phonetic grounds, as well as Horning's idea of a crossing of the Latin word with muccus (“mucus”).^[2] The DHLF and Bénaben still follow this explanation, through a popular Latin *micca.^[5][6] Gamillscheg compared Old Irish meccon (“root”), and Corominas finds the sound change possible but the meaning too far, and leaves the idea in doubt.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Berceo's Vida de San Millán (c. 1230), of a lamp that never lacked oil fuera quando el ministro la mecha li cambiaba “except when the sacristan changed its wick”.^[2][7] Alfonso X's General Estoria (c. 1275) mentions tongs for trimming the wicks of the lamps.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the wick of a lamp the word passed to things that carry fire or look like a twisted cord.^[9][3] Covarrubias in 1611 recorded the surgeons' mechas of twisted lint put into wounds and the match cord of the arquebus, which soldiers preferred to the flint, with the proverb poco aprovecha candil sin mecha.^[9] Juan de Valdés had already preferred mecha to its rival torcida.^[2] The strip of bacon used to lard meat gave the verb mechar (1734), and the likeness to a twisted cord gave mechón “lock of hair” (1607).^[3]

Today the DLE also lists the fuse of a mine, the tinder once used to light cigars, two terms of shipbuilding and, in the plural, dyed streaks of hair.^[4] In much of Latin America mechas is untidy hair, and in the Caribbean, Venezuela, Chile and the Río de la Plata mecha is a drill bit.^[10] The colloquial phrase a toda mecha means “at full speed”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – first record, in Berceo's Vida de San Millán.^[2][3]
• 1250 – the Libro de los animales que cazan mentions a mecha de lana, a wick of wool.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives mecha de candil as Latin lychnus, myxus.^[11][2]
• 1534 – first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme, for the match cords of arquebuses.^[12]
• 1607 – first record of mechón.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin myxus and records the surgical and military senses.^[9]
• 1734 – first record of mechar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wick: the twisted cord or woven strip of cotton that burns in a lamp or candle.^[4][1]
2. A fuse: a tube filled with gunpowder for firing mines and blasting charges.^[4][1]
3. A strip of fat bacon used for larding meat or poultry.^[4]
4. A lock of hair; in the plural, highlights dyed in another colour: Se hizo mechas rubias.^[4][1]
5. (surgery, dated) A bundle of lint tied in the middle, used in treating wounds.^[4]
6. (historical) The hemp match cord that fired the charge of old firearms.^[4]
7. (nautical) The squared tenon at the foot of a mast; also the central piece of a made mast.^[4]
8. (Colombia, colloquial) Clothes.^[4]
9. (Caribbean, Venezuela, Chile, Río de la Plata) A drill bit.^[10][1]

Word family

• mechar
• mechazo
• mechón
• mechero
• enmechar

Related words

• French mèche
• Portuguese mecha

Usage notes

A toda mecha “at full speed” is colloquial.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 10
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mecha
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. mecha
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mèche
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. mecha
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. mecha
8. ^ 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. mecha
9. ^ 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. 1124
10. ^ 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. mecha
11. ^ 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. mecha
12. ^ 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. mecha