mulo

Forms

mulo m (plural mulos, feminine mula, feminine plural mulas)^[1] The feminine mula is the older word in texts: it is first recorded in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mūlus (“mule”); the feminine mula is inherited from Latin mūla (“she-mule”).^[4][2][3][1] The Spanish Wiktionary takes the masculine instead as formed from the feminine with the ending -o.^[5] From the beginning of the 17th century macho tended to replace the word, which nevertheless survived in literature and, for example, in the language of military administration.^[2] In this sense the replacement is probably from Portuguese, ultimately from the Old Portuguese word for the mule.^[6]

The same Latin words are Portuguese mu and mula, Catalan mul and mula, Italian mulo, Occitan mul and French mule.^[7][8]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *musklo- or *mukslo-.^[9] Its cognates are Ancient Greek μύκλος (múklos) and the Hesychian gloss μυχλός (mukhlós), Albanian mushk and Old East Slavic мъскъ (mŭskŭ); de Vaan takes the word to be a loan that entered Europe from Asia Minor.^[9][1] Gómez de Silva also considers it probably not Indo-European.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to a charter of 1042 in Oelschläger's list; the word then appears in the Fuero de Madrid (1158–1202) and in the glossaries of Toledo and El Escorial of about 1400.^[2][3][11] The feminine mula is in the Cantar de mio Cid, the Libro de Apolonio, the Calila and Juan Ruiz.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 defines the mule as the sterile offspring of horse and she-ass or of ass and mare, and notes that a large mule for a litter or for loads was called acémila.^[12] The Academy's 1817 edition records the proverb mulo cojo e hijo bobo lo sufren todo “a lame mule and a foolish son put up with everything”, said of the least valued being given the most work.^[13] From 1843 it defined the word with both genders, mulo, la.^[14]

The mule's hybrid birth gave mulato (1525), and muleta “young she-mule” (1495) became “crutch” (1570), which carries the lame as a mule its rider.^[3][2] Colloquially a mulo is a strong, tireless person.^[4][15] The feminine has gained senses of its own: “a lie” in Argentina and Uruguay, and a person who smuggles small amounts of drugs.^[4][16] In Panama, Colombia and Ecuador mula is a large lorry.^[17] In the Canaries Viera y Clavijo used mulo for the sterile worker bee or wasp.^[18]

Timeline

• 1042 – a charter, the first record.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the feminine mula in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][3]
• 1158–1202 – the Fuero de Madrid uses mulo.^[11]
• 1275 – first record of muleto, a young mule.^[3][2]
• c. 1450 – macho is first recorded in the sense “mule”.^[6]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[19]
• 1525 – first record of mulato.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines the mule as a sterile hybrid.^[12]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes its use for coaches, carts and farm work.^[20]
• 1817 – the Academy records the proverb mulo cojo e hijo bobo lo sufren todo.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology Latin mulus.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mule (feminine mula): the offspring of a donkey and a mare, almost always sterile.^[4][1]
2. (colloquial) A strong, tireless person: Trabaja como un mulo.^[4][15]
3. (feminine; colloquial, Argentina, Uruguay) A lie.^[4][17]
4. (feminine; slang, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras) A drug mule, a person who smuggles drugs in small amounts.^[4][16]
5. (feminine, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador) A large lorry, often with a trailer, for heavy loads.^[17]

Word family

• mular
• mulato
• mulatero
• muleto
• mula
• muleta
• mulero

Related words

• macho
• Latin mūlus
• Catalan mul

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 186
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. mulo
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. mulo
5. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. mulo
6. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 477
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4483
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 478
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. mulo
12. ^ 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. 1154
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 590
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 490
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mulo
16. ^ a b 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. mula
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. mula
18. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. mulo
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. mulo
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 629
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 726