mina

mina¹ mine

Etymology tree of mina¹

inherited borrowed derived

French mine

Spanish mina

Pronunciation

• /ˈmina/, [ˈmi.na]^[1]

Forms

mina f (plural minas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a mine is probably borrowed from French mine, which is from Gaulish *meina (“ore, raw metal”).^[2][3][4][5] Corominas compares Irish méin (“ore, metal; mine”) and Welsh mwyn (“ore”), and derives the Spanish mena “ore” from a Celtic variant with ⟨e⟩.^[2] García de Diego rejects Diez's derivation from the Latin verb minor (“to threaten”) as difficult for historical and semantic reasons, and takes the Spanish word immediately from French.^[6] Wiktionary takes the French word from Vulgar Latin *mina, from the Gaulish form, and that from Proto-Celtic *meinis (“ore, metal”).^[7]

The REW lists Italian mina, Occitan mina and Catalan mina beside the Spanish word, and says that Portuguese mina was borrowed from the Castilian word.^[5] The REW explains the variants in ⟨i⟩ and ⟨e⟩ as Gaulish, and notes that mining was important in Roman Gaul.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from the second half of the 13th century and calls it rare until the end of the 15th.^[2] The CDH's earliest clear hit is in the Aragonese law code Vidal Mayor (c. 1250), which speaks of the minas de fierro “iron mines” of an estate.^[8] The mina of Alfonso X's Lapidario is the name of a green stone, and the CDH's hit of 1217 is part of a Latin word in a Latin charter.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija's Spanish–Latin vocabulary renders mina as an underground cave, Latin cuniculus.^[10][11] Covarrubias in 1611 explains it first as a tunnel dug to carry water or to reach and blow up the enemy's walls with gunpowder, and then as the places where gold or silver is dug; he adds the figurative sense of anything that yields great profit, as in este mi oficio es una mina.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the same three senses.^[13] Bénaben explains how the sapper's gallery filled with explosive led to the modern sense, the explosive device itself.^[14]

In the Americas minas are recorded in Mexico City from 1532, for gold workings and for the mines of Taxco.^[15] In the Canaries mina is a wall built to hold back underground water, recorded from 1753.^[16] Román's dictionary of Chileanisms records mina for the graphite of a pencil, and the DLE now gives this sense generally.^[17][3]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – minas de fierro in the Vidal Mayor.^[8]
• 1387 – minero is first recorded, in the sense “mine”.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives mina soterraña cueva, Latin cuniculus; the verb minar is first recorded.^[10][2]
• 1532 – first records in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[15]
• 1600 – minero in the sense “miner”.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the water tunnel, the military mine and the mine of gold or silver.^[12]
• 1753 – the Canarian sense “wall holding back underground water”.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deposit of useful minerals.^[3][18]
2. A mine: an excavation made to extract a mineral: Su abuelo trabajó cuarenta años en la mina.^[3][4][1]
3. An artificial underground passage to bring up or carry water or to make a way through.^[3]
4. The source of a spring.^[3]
5. The graphite lead inside a pencil.^[3][4][1]
6. (figurative) A post or business that brings great profit for little work.^[3][12]
7. (figurative) A person or thing rich in useful qualities: Esa biblioteca es una mina de datos.^[3]
8. An explosive device with a fuse, buried or hidden, that goes off when touched: Pisó una mina en el camino..^[3][4][1]
9. (military) A gallery dug under a besieged place and charged with explosive to bring down its fortifications.^[3][13]
10. (Argentina, rare) A stand of wild yerba mate in the forest of Misiones.^[3][19]

Word family

• minar
• trasminar
• minero
• minería
• mineral
• contramina
• desminar
• dragaminas
• portaminas
• barreminas

mina² woman

Pronunciation

• /ˈmina/, [ˈmi.na]^[1]

Forms

mina f (plural minas)^[1]

Etymology

The colloquial word for a woman is borrowed from Italian mina (“prostitute”), a slang word, according to the DLE.^[3] Malaret, following M. L. Wagner, takes it from the jargon of the camorristi, in which the word meant “woman” and miniera a young and beautiful prostitute; he records the Spanish word as Lunfardo, the slang of Buenos Aires.^[20] Wiktionary suggests a shortening of Galician meniña (“girl”) or of Italian femmina (“woman”).^[21] Garzón, by contrast, thought it the Spanish word for a mine, in its sense “profitable business”, used figuratively of a woman who keeps a man.^[22]

Earliest recorded meaning

Garzón's Diccionario argentino of 1910 defines mina as a Buenos Aires word for a woman who lives with a man and keeps him by prostitution.^[22] Bayo's Vocabulario criollo of the same year glosses it as “concubine, companion”.^[23]

Semantic evolution

In the first records the word is the slang of Buenos Aires for a kept woman or concubine.^[22][23] In 1942 Santamaría recorded it in Bolivia for a concubine or lover, and in 1946 Malaret listed it in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Uruguay for a mistress or companion.^[24][20] Today it is a colloquial word for any woman in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia; in Venezuela and Bolivia it still means a prostitute in criminal slang, and in Paraguay a very attractive young woman.^[19][3]

Timeline

• 1910 – Garzón and Bayo record the word in Argentina.^[22][23]
• 1942 – Santamaría records it in Bolivia.^[24]
• 1946 – Malaret lists it in six countries, as a word of Lunfardo.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. (colloquial, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia) A woman: Esa mina es mi vecina.^[3][19][1]
2. (slang, Venezuela, Bolivia) A prostitute.^[19][1]
3. (Paraguay) A very attractive young woman.^[19]