rueda

Forms

rueda f (plural ruedas)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write rrueda, arrueda and ruedra.^[2] Asturian ruedra is, according to Corominas, only a phonetic alteration of rueda.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish rueda, inherited from Latin rota (“wheel”).^[3][4][5][1] The same word is Asturian rueda, Aragonese rueda, Portuguese roda, Galician roda, Catalan roda, Occitan ròda, French roue, Italian ruota and Romanian roată, and Basque errota.^[6][1] Monlau already pointed out that the stressed /o/ of the Latin word became /we/ and its /t/ became /d/, while most derivatives keep the /o/.^[7]

The Latin noun continues Proto-Italic *rotā.^[8][1] De Vaan derives it from an adjective Proto-Indo-European *Hrot-o- (“revolving”), from *Hret- (“to run, roll”), and compares Lithuanian rãtas (“wheel”), Old High German rad (“wheel”) and Sanskrit रथ (rátha, “chariot”).^[8] Wiktionary notes that the exact derivation from the root is disputed.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), the potter's wheel of Jeremiah: he que fazie huebra sobre sue rueda “and behold, he was working at his wheel”.^[9] The Fuero de Zorita (1218–c. 1250) speaks of a mill wheel, and the Semejanza del mundo (c. 1223) says that the earth is round en gujsa de rrueda “like a wheel”.^[9] Corominas's first records are Berceo and several charters of the early 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses the word for the peacock's spread tail, a ring or hoop, and a round area, besides the wheel itself.^[10] Nebrija (1495) distinguishes the cart wheel, the round slice como de pescado and any wheel.^[3][11] Covarrubias (1611) records hazer rueda “to form a circle” and the rueda de la fortuna, named for its inconstancy.^[12] Autoridades adds a large fish shaped like a cart wheel, the ocean sunfish of the DLE.^[13][5] In the thieves' cant of 1609 a rueda was a round shield.^[14]

In the Americas a rueda de indios “circle of Indians” is recorded in Mexico in 1532, and por rueda “in turn” in La Paz in 1549.^[15] In Cuba the word names a figure of the dance in which couples turn in a circle, and a round slice of bread.^[16][17][3] In Argentina it is a cut of beef and in Cuba a packet of 25 packs of cigarettes.^[18] Modern set phrases include rueda de prensa “press conference”, comulgar con ruedas de molino “to swallow any lie” and chupar rueda, of a cyclist riding in another's slipstream.^[19][20] Argentina says comulgar con ruedas de carreta instead.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the potter's wheel in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century copy).^[9]
• 1218–c. 1250 – a rueda de molino in the Fuero de Zorita.^[9]
• c. 1223 – rrueda in the Semejanza del mundo.^[9]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, Corominas's first record.^[3][4]
• 1272–1275 – the peacock's rueda in the General estoria.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records the wheel of a cart and the round slice of fish.^[11]
• 1532 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• c. 1573 – roda, the stem of a ship, borrowed from Catalan.^[3][4]
• 1609 – rueda “shield” in thieves' cant.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records hazer rueda and rueda de la fortuna.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the fish rueda.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wheel: a disc-shaped part that turns around an axle (eje).^[5][1]
2. A circle or ring (corro) of people or things.^[5][1]
3. The wheel-shaped sign of a royal charter, the signo rodado.^[5]
4. The ocean sunfish, the pez luna.^[5][13]
5. The fan that a peacock (pavo) makes with its tail feathers.^[5][1]
6. A round slice of fruit, meat or fish: una rueda de piña.^[5][22]
7. A turn or order of succession.^[5]
8. A game of billiards (billar) for three, each playing against the other two.^[5]
9. (historical) A pad of wool or bristle put in the pleats of men's coats to make them stand out.^[5]
10. (masculine) A wine of Rueda.^[1]

Word family

• ruedo
• ruedero
• rodear
• rodaje
• rodal
• rodera
• rodete
• rodillo
• rodezno

Related words

• rodaja
• rodar
• rodilla
• rotar
• rotación
• rótulo
• roda
• Latin rota

Usage notes

Rueda de reconocimiento or rueda de identificación is a police line-up.^[5][1] The ship's roda “stem” is a separate borrowing from Catalan, and the ecclesiastical court called the Rota keeps the Latin form.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. rueda
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 83
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rueda
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. rueda
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5745
7. ^ Monlau, Pedro Felipe (1856), Diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana (ensayo), Madrid: Imprenta de la Sociedad Literaria y Tipográfica, p. 400
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. rueda
10. ^ 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. rueda
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 411
12. ^ 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. 1273
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 650
14. ^ a b Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 197
15. ^ a b 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. rueda
16. ^ Suárez, Constantino (1921), Vocabulario cubano, La Habana: Librería Cervantes / Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. 461
17. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 47
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. rueda
19. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 686
20. ^ León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, p. s.v. rueda
21. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 439
22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rueda