puma

Forms

puma m (plural pumas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Quechua puma (“puma, American lion”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} In Quechua the word named the American lion and, more generally, any fierce animal or a harsh, cruel man.^[6] It is also Aymara.^[7]

Corominas notes that Garcilaso the Inca, Guaman Poma (whose name means “puma”) and Father Cobo use it only as a Quechua word, as does Domingo de Santo Tomás's dictionary in the form poma; in his view it entered Spanish through books on zoology.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DHLE's first record is in 1597, in Fray G. de Torres's report on the Indians of the province of Cayapas, of the American feline.^[5] Garcilaso's Comentarios reales explain that there are lions in Peru, smaller and less fierce than those of Africa, which the people call puma.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Corominas's first record of the word in Spanish is Gay's documents on the zoology of Chile, of 1847, and he notes that in Argentina and Chile the only popular name for the animal is león.^[2] Lenz also found puma a word of books and educated people in Chile, which explains its masculine article.^[6] Salvá's dictionary was the first to record it, in 1846, and the Academy's in 1884.^[5][9][2]

In Chile puma also means a brave, daring man: first in a dictionary of 1984, and in a text of 1985.^[5][10] In Mexico it names a player or supporter of the football club Universidad Nacional, from 1997.^[5][11] English puma was borrowed from Spanish in 1777.^[12]

Timeline

• 1597 – first record, in Fray G. de Torres's report on Cayapas.^[5]
• 1609 – Garcilaso the Inca gives puma as the Peruvian name of the lion.^[8]
• 1777 – English borrows puma from Spanish.^[12]
• 1846 – Salvá's dictionary records the word.^[5][13]
• 1847 – Gay uses it in his zoology of Chile.^[2][3]
• 1884 – first in the Academy's dictionary.^[9][2]
• 1985 – first text with the Chilean sense “brave man”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The puma, cougar or mountain lion (Puma concolor), a feline of the Americas of reddish or tawny colour that lives in mountains and plains.^[4][1][14]
2. (Chile) A brave, daring man.^[10][5]
3. (Mexico) A player or supporter of the football club Universidad Nacional; also as an adjective.^[5][11]

Related words

• león
• Quechua puma

Usage notes

Puma is masculine, as in the Academy's 1884 edition;^[9][15][16] Barcia gave it as feminine, and so did the Academy in 1899.^[9][15][16] Old Spanish had a different puma, a variant of poma “apple, fruit”, found in Santillana and in 15th-century texts.^[14][17][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 693
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. puma
4. ^ a b 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. puma
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. puma
6. ^ a b Lenz, Rodolfo (1904–1910), Diccionario etimolójico de las voces chilenas derivadas de lenguas indíjenas americanas, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cervantes, p. s.v. puma
7. ^ a b Friederici, Georg (1947), Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch, Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter, p. 530
8. ^ a b Grupo IATEXT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, AMERLEX: corpus of americanisms in early texts on the Americas (online database), p. s.v. puma
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 879
10. ^ 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. puma
11. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. puma
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 897
14. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. puma
15. ^ a b Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 517
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 825
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. puma
18. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando