teja

Forms

teja f (plural tejas)^[1] Old Spanish texts write teia, teja and texa;^[2] tella and tellya occur in documents of the reconquest of the Ebro valley.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish teja, inherited from Latin tēgula (“roof tile”).^[3][4][5][1] That noun is from Latin tegō (“to cover”) + -ula, from the same root as the source of techo.^[6][3][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese telha, Galician tella, Asturian teya, Catalan teula, French tuile and Italian tegola.^[7][8][1] It is also cognate with English tile.^[1]

The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *tegō, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover with a roof”), and is related to Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”) and thatch.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Fuero de Guadalajara of 1219; the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) has a chapter Del fazedor delos adriellos et delas teias “On the maker of bricks and tiles”.^[3][10] The sense is the roof tile of baked clay, sold by the teiero of the Fuero de Cáceres.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The derivative tejera “tile works” is recorded in 1214, and tejado “tiled roof” in 1399.^[4][3] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) gave the tile, a nautical sense (the hollow part of the cap that holds a mast) and the phrases a teja vana, of a building roofed only with tiles, and caerse las tejas “to be nearly nightfall”.^[11] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added a toca teja “in ready cash” and de tejas abajo “in the natural course of things, leaving aside the supernatural”.^[12] Its 1884 edition added the two steel halves that enclose the core of a sword blade and a measure of irrigation water, a quarter of a fila in Aragon and Navarre.^[13] The DLE now also has a tile-shaped biscuit, the priest's shovel hat, a curved printing plate and the colour of baked clay.^[5]

In the Americas the word names the back of a saddle in Mexico, a hat in El Salvador and Nicaragua, the head in Honduras and a sweet of dried fruit coated in chocolate or caramel in Peru.^[14][1] In New Mexico it is a flat stone or coin thrown in a game.^[15]

Timeline

• 1106 – DEMel lists the form tellya in documents of the reconquest of the Ebro valley.^[2]
• 1214 – the derivative tejera.^[3]
• 1219 – the Fuero de Guadalajara, the first record for Corominas.^[3][4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes regulates the makers of bricks and tiles.^[10]
• 1495 – Nebrija's teja de barro with Latin tegula.^[3]
• 1550 – the first record from the Americas, in Panama.^[16]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the tile and the phrases a teja vana and caerse las tejas.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary adds a toca teja and de tejas abajo.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology and adds the sword and water-measure senses.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A roof tile, curved or flat, of baked clay or another material.^[5][1]
2. A thin curved biscuit shaped like a tile.^[5][17]
3. Each of the two steel halves that enclose the core of a sword blade.^[5]
4. A shovel hat (sombrero de teja).^[5][17]
5. (printing) A curved lead plate fitted to the cylinder of a rotary press.^[5]
6. (nautical) A semicircular notch cut in a spar to fit another.^[5]
7. (military) A metal tray that holds a shell or charge before it is loaded.^[5]
8. (Aragon, Navarre, La Rioja) A quarter of a fila, a measure of irrigation water.^[5]
9. (Peru) A sweet of dried fruit covered with chocolate or caramel.^[14][1]

Adjective

1. Of the reddish-brown colour of baked clay tiles: un sofá color teja.^[5][17]

Word family

• tejado
• tejar
• tejero
• tejera
• tejería
• tejuela
• tejuelo
• retejar
• trastejar
• tejavana

Related words

• techo
• Latin tēgula
• Portuguese telha
• Catalan teula

Usage notes

The DLE has a second teja, from Latin tilia, a name of the linden;^{[5][18][19][20]} Nebrija (1513) and Covarrubias (1611) recorded it, and the DEEH places it in Cantabria.^{[5][18][19][20]} VOX suggests that the clash with the roof tile is probably why tilo prevailed for the tree.^[21] Set phrases include a toca teja (now also a tocateja) “cash down” and de tejas abajo “in the natural order of things”.^[22][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 448
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. techo
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. teja
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6609
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 235
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 832
13. ^ 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. 1012
14. ^ 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. teja
15. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 182
16. ^ 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. teja
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. teja
18. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
19. ^ 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. 1322
20. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6700
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. teja
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 692