Etymologically
Log in

púa

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word púa

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1218–1250 Fuero de Zorita de los Canes More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *puga

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpua/, [ˈpu.a][1]

Forms

púa f (plural púas)[1] The Fueros of Úbeda and Alcaraz in the 13th century write puua.[2] A variant puya is recorded from the Guzmán de Alfarache on and is widespread in the Americas.[3] The form puga, given as old by Autoridades, is used in Aragon, Galicia and Biscay.[3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[3][4] The word is shared by the Ibero-Romance languages and Occitan, and reaches dialects of central France and much of Italy: Portuguese pua, Galician puga, Catalan pua and Occitan pua.[3][4][1] Catalan has it from the 13th century, Portuguese from the 15th.[5][6]

Corominas's starting point is inherited from Vulgar Latin *puga, which would have lost its /ɡ/ between vowels as rúa (“street”) did from Latin ruga.[3] He thinks it may be a dialect word of Italic or of a pre-Celtic Indo-European language, related to pungō (“to prick”) and pūgiō (“dagger”).[4][5] Meyer-Lübke rejected Diez's etymon, the Latin word for “dagger”, as phonetically impossible, and suggested the same base as a derivative of the verb.[3] Rohlfs preferred *puca because of the southern Italian forms, Gamillscheg *pugwa, and Spitzer derived the word from pūbēs (“pubic hair”), which Corominas rejects.[3]

The DLE and the Wikcionario instead derive it from Vulgar Latin *pugia, from the noun for “dagger”.[7][8] Wiktionary has the same base but derives it from the verb.[1] Corominas argues that puya has a secondary /ʝ/, as in tuya and suya, and that the other Romance forms rule out an etymon with Latin /j/ or ⟨gi⟩.[3] De Vaan lists the noun for “dagger” among the derivatives of the verb and traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *pu-n(e)-g/k-.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), in a rule for weavers: Tantos filos sean en la una pua del peyne, como en la otra “let there be as many threads in one dent of the reed as in the other”.[2][10] Corominas, who knew no record before Guillén de Segovia and Alonso de Palencia (1490), noted that a word of so special a sense would seldom reach literature or charters.[3][4] Palencia uses it for the prongs of a fish spear: fuscina es ferramienta de tres puas con que traspassan los pexes “a fuscina is an iron tool with three prongs with which they spear fish”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gives both a scion for grafting and an iron point.[11][3] Percyvall in 1591 has a graft, a prickle, a thorn, the tooth of a comb and any sharp point.[3] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it in general as a thin sharp thing ending in a point, and recorded the figurative senses “something that causes inner grief” and “a subtle, cunning person” (fulano es buena púa), and the saying saber cuántas púas tiene un peine.[3]

In Almería and elsewhere in Andalusia púa became the usual word for a small nail.[3] The Academy in 1884 admitted only puya for the steel point of the picador's lance.[3] In Argentina, Chile and Puerto Rico it is the spur of a bird, and in Argentina the steel spur fitted to fighting cocks.[12][13][14] The DLE also gives the plectrum of a guitar or lute.[7] In León it is also a cutting of a tree, the shoot of a cut poplar and a barbed remark.[15]

Timeline

  • 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses it for the dent of a weaver's reed.[2][10]
  • 1251–1285 – the Fuero de Úbeda writes puua.[2]
  • 1490 – Alonso de Palencia, the DCECH's first record.[3][4]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives the senses “graft” and “iron point”.[11][3]
  • 1541 – the first records from the Americas, in Michoacán (puyas) and Asunción.[16]
  • 1591 – Percyvall gives a graft, a thorn and the tooth of a comb.[3]
  • 1884 – the Academy admits puya for the picador's point.[3]
  • 1946 – Malaret records the sense “spur of a bird” in Argentina, Chile and Puerto Rico.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A thin, rigid object ending in a sharp point; a spike or prong: Se rasgó la camisa en las púas de la cerca.[7][1]
  2. A scion: a shoot of a tree inserted into another to graft it.[7]
  3. A tooth of a comb.[7][1]
  4. Each of the wire hooks or teeth of a card for carding.[7]
  5. A plectrum or pick of tortoiseshell, ivory or plastic for playing the guitar, the lute and similar instruments: Se le cayó la púa dentro de la guitarra.[7][1]
  6. A quill or spine of the hedgehog, the porcupine and similar animals.[7]
  7. The iron point of a spinning top.[7]
  8. (figurative) Something that causes grief or sorrow.[7]
  9. (colloquial, pejorative) A subtle, cunning person: Ese chico es buena púa.[7]
  10. (Argentina, Chile, Puerto Rico) The spur of a bird; in Argentina, the steel spur fitted to a fighting cock.[12][14]
  • puya
  • puñal
  • Latin pungō
  • Catalan pua

Usage notes

Saber alguien cuántas púas tiene un peine is said of someone shrewd and careful in business, and sacar la púa al trompo means to find out the cause of something by diligent inquiry.[7] Alambre de púas is barbed wire.[1] The DLE has a separate colloquial púa, now little used, meaning a peseta.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. púa
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 666
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. púa
  5. ^ a b Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 842
  6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2761
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. púa
  8. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
  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 Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. púa
  11. ^ a b 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. púa
  12. ^ a b c Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 684
  13. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 527
  14. ^ 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. púa
  15. ^ 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. púa
  16. ^ 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. púa

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Púa.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/p%C3%BAa. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·