pecina

pecina¹ fishpond

Etymology tree of pecina¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin piscis

Catalan peix

French poisson

Italian pesce

Romanian pește

Spanish pez

Latin piscīna

Spanish pecina

Italian piscina

From the same root · pecina¹

Latin piscārius ← piscis

Latin piscor ← piscis

Latin piscōsus ← piscis

Romanian pescui ← pește

Pronunciation

• /peˈθina/, [peˈθi.na], /peˈsina/^[1]

Forms

pecina f (plural pecinas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the fishpond is inherited from Latin piscīna (“fishpond”), formed from piscis (“fish”) with the suffix -īna.^[2][1][3] Its learned doublet is piscina.^[1] The REW lists Sardinian piskina and northern Italian forms such as Venetian pisina, which mean “puddle, mud”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Moses Arragel's translation of the Bible (c. 1422–1433) la pesçina soberana e yusera are the upper and lower pools of Jerusalem.^[5] Pero Tafur (c. 1457) also calls the pool of the healing angel in Jerusalem a pesçina.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija defined pecina as a fishpond and gave Latin piscina as its equivalent,^[6] and Percyvall translated it “a fish pale” in 1591.^[7] By 1737 the Diccionario de Autoridades said that the word was no longer used, since people now said piscina.^[8] Terreros also called it rare, and the DLE marks it obsolete.^[9][2]

Timeline

• c. 1422–1433 – Moses Arragel's Bible uses pesçina for a pool.^[5]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija defines pecina as a fishpond.^[6]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades calls the word obsolete, replaced by piscina.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) A fishpond.^[2][1]

pecina² black mud

Etymology tree of pecina²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin pīx

Italian pece

Spanish pez

Spanish pecina

From the same root · pecina²

Latin piceus ← pīx

Latin picō ← pīx

Pronunciation

• /peˈθina/, [peˈθi.na], /peˈsina/^[1]

Forms

pecina f (plural pecinas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the black mud is formed from Spanish pez² (“pitch”) + -ina, for its dark, sticky look.^[2][1][10] The DRAE of 2001 and Moliner trace it instead to Latin picĭna, the feminine of picinus, from pix (“pitch”).^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Juan Alfonso de Baena (1406–1435, in a copy of c. 1465) threatens a rival in verse: si non lanço en la peçina vuestra barva e la engredo “unless I throw your beard into the muck and plaster it with clay”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija glossed Latin intritum as pecina de tierra o barro “mud of earth or clay” in 1492 and 1495.^[13][10] Santa Teresa thanks God for making clear water out of pecina, tan sucia como yo “mud as dirty as I am”.^[5] Terreros recorded it as a jocular word for a filthy quagmire,^[9] and the Academy added the sense of black slime in 1899.^[14] Galdós in 1874 wrote of a stream of blackish water called pecina at Castrillo de Duero, home of the guerrilla leader known as el Empecinado.^[5] Corominas records empecinado from 1535 and empecinarse “to persist stubbornly”, properly “to stick fast like pitch”, from 1826.^[10] In the Canaries pecina is a filthy, foul-smelling place or thing.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 1406–1435 – Juan Alfonso de Baena uses peçina “muck”.^[5]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses intritum as pecina de tierra o barro.^[13]
• 1495 – the date Corominas gives for the word, from Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary.^[10][13]
• 1535 – first record of empecinado.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary adds the sense “black slime”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. Blackish slime or mud that forms in puddles and watercourses where organic matter is rotting: El arroyo arrastraba una pecina maloliente.^[2][1]
2. (Canary Islands) An extremely dirty, foul-smelling thing or place.^[15][16]

Word family

• empecinarse
• empecinado