ropa

Forms

ropa f (plural ropas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Gothic *raupa (“booty”), a Gothic noun that is not recorded but is reconstructed from the Gothic verb 𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raupjan, “to pluck, tear out”).^[2][3][4][1] The DLE compares Old High German roufen and German raufen “to pull, scuffle”.^[4][2] The verb continues Proto-Germanic *raupijaną, from the same root as *reufaną (“to tear, pluck”).^[1][5]

The word is a sister of Portuguese roupa.^[2][3][1] The neighbouring Romance languages have a form with /b/: Catalan roba “clothes”, earlier “goods carried by sea”, Old Occitan rauba “robbery, spoils, clothes”, French robe “garment” and Italian roba “goods, belongings, clothes”.^[2][3] These are plainly derivatives of the verb behind robar, *raubôn (“to plunder”), with the first sense “spoils, booty”, then “goods” and “clothes”.^[2][6] Since the /p/ of the Spanish and Portuguese word cannot be explained as a Romance change, Corominas, after Brüch and Gamillscheg, starts from a separate Gothic noun formed on that verb; the two roots are related, and speakers felt the link, as Old Aragonese ropar (“to rob”) shows.^[2][7] Older works derived the word from Old High German roubōn (“to rob”), as the Academy did from 1884, or from rouba.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters of Castile and León use the word from the 10th century: „Ecclesias, cassas... raupa, vestimenta, oves et boves” in a charter of Cardeña of 917.^[2][3] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) it still means things taken as booty: „muchos gañados de ovejas e de vacas, e de ropas e de otras riquizas largas” “many flocks of sheep and herds of cows, and goods, and other great riches”.^[2][10] Berceo already uses it for clothing: „el preste, revestido de la ropa sagrada” “the priest, dressed in the holy vestment”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Wider senses lasted long: “household goods, gear” in Juan Manuel, “merchandise” in Timoneda, and ropa de bagaje “baggage” once in Lope de Vega.^[2] Covarrubias gave several senses: one's property as a whole (which he took from Italian), the household textiles of silk, wool and linen, the clothes one wears, and a loose outer gown; he derived it from Greek rhopos “merchandise”.^[11] Autoridades still put first every kind of cloth used in the house, tapestries and hangings included, and only then clothing.^[12] The Academy in 1817 added ropa blanca “household linen” and the robe worn by magistrates as a sign of office.^[13] Today the DLE's only sense is “garment”, with phrases such as ropa blanca.^[4]

Judeo-Spanish kept the old breadth: ropa is any cloth and also goods of every kind.^[14] In the Americas ropa americana is second-hand clothing in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Chile and Paraguay.^[15] Basque borrowed it as arropa.^[1]

Timeline

• 917 – the spelling raupa in a Latin charter of Cardeña.^[2][3]
• 1080 – roppa at Eslonza, and in 1090 ropa at Sahagún, according to Menéndez Pidal.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses ropas for booty.^[2][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – ropa de lecho “bedclothes” in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes.^[10]
• c. 1228–1246 – Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa uses it for a vestment.^[2][10]
• 1254 – ropa de casa “household linen” in Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas.^[16]
• 1512 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico: ropa de grana.^[17]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “garment”.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias lists property, household textiles and clothes.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Old High German.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. clothes, clothing: the garments a person wears or owns, in the singular or plural: Guardó la ropa de verano.^{[4][9][19][1]}
2. A garment, an article of clothing.^[4]
3. Any textiles for use in the house, such as sheets, tablecloths and curtains.^[9][19]
4. (dated) The robe that marks an office, such as a magistrate's.^[9][13]

Word family

• ropaje
• ropero
• ropería
• ropilla
• ropón
• arropar
• ropavejero

Related words

• robar
• Portuguese roupa
• French robe
• Italian roba
• Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (raupjan)

Usage notes

Common phrases are ropa blanca “household linen”, ropa interior “underwear” and ropa de cama “bedclothes”.^[4][9] Ropa vieja is a dish of leftover meat; in Panama, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay it is also written as one word.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 35
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. robar
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ropa
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 299
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7090
8. ^ 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. 941
9. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ropa
10. ^ 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. ropa
11. ^ 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. 1271
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 640
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 771
14. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. rôpa
15. ^ 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. ropa
16. ^ 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. ropa
17. ^ 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. roba
18. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 208
19. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ropa