pelliza

Forms

pelliza f (plural pellizas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote pelliça, with ⟨ç⟩;^[2][3] DEMel also lists the Latinising spelling pellicia in documents of the 12th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin pellicea (“made of skin”), the feminine of the adjective pellicius (“made of skins”), used as a noun.^[4][5][1] The DLE calls the source Late Latin;^[5][6][1] Wiktionary and the Academy's 2001 edition give the form pellicia.^[5][6][1] Niermeyer records the Medieval Latin noun for a fur coat, and Du Cange quotes Papias's definition of a garment made of skins.^[7][8] Corominas notes that the noun is common to all the Romance languages, but that the voiceless ⟨ç⟩ of Old Spanish suggests Castilian took it from a neighbouring language rather than inheriting it directly.^[4]

The same word is Catalan pellissa, French pelisse and Italian pelliccia.^[9][10][11] The Latin adjective is formed from pellis (“skin, hide”) with the suffix -icius.^[12][1] De Vaan traces the Latin noun back to Proto-Italic *pelni- and Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni- (“skin, hide”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's General Estoria (c. 1275, in a manuscript of the 13th century) tells how God, driving Adam and Eve out of Paradise, gave them garments of skin: dioles unas pelliças fechas de pellejas de ganados muertos “he gave them coats made of the hides of dead cattle”.^[3][14] Corominas dates the word to about 1280.^[15]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages a pelliza was any garment made or lined with skins.^[14] Calderón's will of 1681 lists una pelliza de pieles.^[3] The Academy defined it so in 1817, and in 1884 specified a warm garment made or lined with fine furs.^[16][17] Later editions added a jacket with its collar and cuffs reinforced with another fabric, and a military jacket trimmed with astrakhan, the dolman of hussars.^[6][5][18]

In Puerto Rico the word names a shaggy cover laid over a saddle or pack, recorded in a poem of 1916, and in rural speech pieces of an animal's stomach used for tripe.^[19][20][21] In Leonese it is a sheepskin wrapped round the foot and leg for walking in snow, a long warm jacket and, figuratively, a drunken bout.^[22]

Timeline

• 1161 – a Mozarabic document from Toledo has the form belisiya.^[4][2]
• 12th century – documents of the reconquest of the Ebro valley write pellicia.^[2]
• c. 1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses pelliças for garments of skin.^[3][2]
• 1377–1399 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Eutropius pairs vistiduras viles o pelliças.^[3]
• 1681 – Calderón de la Barca's will lists a fur pelliza.^[3]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as a garment made or lined with furs.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Latin etymon and adds “fine” furs.^[17]
• 1916 – a Puerto Rican poem uses the word for a saddle cover.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A warm coat made of or lined with fine furs.^[5][1]
2. A warm jacket whose collar and cuffs are reinforced with another material, such as leather.^[5][23]
3. (military) A blue cloth jacket edged with astrakhan and closed with black braid; a dolman.^[5][18][1]
4. (Puerto Rico) A cover laid over a saddle or pack; pieces of an animal's stomach used in mondongo.^[21][24]

Related words

• piel
• pellejo
• sobrepelliz
• Latin pellis
• Catalan pellissa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. pelliza
3. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pelliza
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 537
5. ^ 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. pelliza
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. pelliza
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. pellicius
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. pellicia
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4910
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 545
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. pellissa
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. pellicius
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b 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. pelliza
15. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. piel
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 656
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 810
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pelliza
19. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1999), Vocabulario de Puerto Rico, critical ed. by Humberto López Morales, Madrid: Arco/Libros (1st ed. 1937), p. 277
20. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. pelliza
21. ^ 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. pelliza
22. ^ 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. pelliza
23. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. pelliza
24. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 640