trampa

Forms

trampa f (plural trampas)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][3][1] Corominas sees it as a word shared by Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan, close to the form trapa of Asturian, which has the same sense and is also Portuguese trapa, Catalan trapa, French trappe and Occitan trapa.^[2][3] Both forms belong to a family of words in ⟨trapp-⟩ and ⟨tramp-⟩ meaning “to tread”, found in the Germanic and the Romance languages, such as German Treppe (“step, staircase”), Dutch trappen (“to tread”) and trampeln (“to stamp”).^[3] The family is old in Germanic, but Corominas doubts that Romance took it from there: in his view it comes in the end from the sound words ⟨trap!⟩ and ⟨tramp!⟩, which imitate the noise of a heavy body walking.^[2][3] The DLE follows him, and Moliner calls the word expressive.^[4][5]

The REW, García de Diego and the DHLF derive the whole family from Frankish *trappa (“trap”), recorded in the Latin of the Salic law as Medieval Latin trappa.^[6][7][8][1] Niermeyer glosses it “bird trap” and “trapdoor”.^[9] The same Germanic word is Old English træppe and English trap.^[8][1] Wiktionary gives both explanations, and traces the Germanic word to Proto-Germanic *trap- and Proto-Indo-European *dremb- (“to run”).^[1] Bénaben and Gómez de Silva consider a Germanic source possible.^[10][11]

The Academy's dictionary of 1884 derived it from the same Low Latin word and a German word for “snare”.^[12] Covarrubias had taken it from French tromper (“to deceive”), an etymology Autoridades repeated.^[13][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is a heading of the Fuero de Alcalá, of about 1235: Qui trampa quisiere.^[15] Clearer records are 15th-century.^[15] A poem by Juan Agraz written before 1435 (in a copy of about 1454) lists deudas de los bodegones and diez mil trampas “debts at the taverns … and ten thousand tricks”.^[15] The Ordenanzas de Ávila of 1485 forbid anyone to set a tranpa ni cepo “trap or snare” for dogs.^[15] Corominas's first record is Pedro de Alcalá's tranpa por engaño “trap in the sense of deceit” of 1505.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Corominas takes the original sense to be a board that gives way when it is trodden on, whence “a trick that deceives” and “a cunning ruse”.^[3] Covarrubias described a snare hidden in the ground that catches harmful animals such as the wolf or the fox by the foot, and used the word for any deceit in accounts, deals or games.^[13] Autoridades has the hunting trap, the deceitful ruse and a debt contracted by deceit, with an example from Quevedo.^[14] The Academy later softened this last sense to “a debt whose payment is put off”.^[2] Corominas argues that the sense “debt” comes from the false footing of the debtor, like that of someone who steps on a trap, rather than from “deceit”; he dates it to the early 17th century.^[2][3]

The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century add the trapdoor of cellars, the flap of a shop counter and the fly of breeches.^[16][17] Today the DLE also has a device that holds back one substance and separates it from others, and cheating in a game.^[4] In Peru trampa is the person with whom someone is unfaithful to a partner, and in Guatemala a humble shop.^[18] In Portuguese trampa and most of its derivatives are now obsolete, though they were common in the 16th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1235 – the heading Qui trampa quisiere in the Fuero de Alcalá.^[15]
• before 1435 – Juan Agraz's diez mil trampas (in a copy of about 1454).^[15]
• 1485 – the Ordenanzas de Ávila use tranpa for a trap for animals.^[15]
• 1490 – the derivative tramposo in Alonso de Palencia.^[2][3]
• 1505 – Pedro de Alcalá's tranpa por engaño.^[2]
• 1539 – entrampar;^[3] trampear follows about 1540 and trampilla in 1554.^[3]
• 1568 – first record in the Americas, in Guatemala: trampas y tarrabusterías que debíamos.^[19]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “a trap”.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the hunting trap and the figurative sense.^[13]
• early 17th century – the sense “debt”.^[3]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives an etymology from Low Latin trappa.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trap or snare that catches an animal and holds it: Puso una trampa para los conejos.^[4][1]
2. A trapdoor: a door in the floor that leads to a lower part of a building.^[4][1]
3. The hinged flap of a shop counter, raised to pass through.^[4]
4. The strip of cloth that covers the opening at the front of trousers or breeches.^[4]
5. A device that holds back one substance and separates it from others.^[4]
6. A hidden breach of a law, agreement or rule, or a way of getting round it, for one's own profit.^[4]
7. cheating in a game or competition: Mi primo siempre hace trampas a las cartas.^[4][1]
8. A ruse to deceive or harm someone.^[4]
9. (colloquial) A debt that is slow to be paid.^[4][2]
10. (Peru) The person with whom someone is unfaithful to a partner.^[18]

Word family

• trampear
• trampero
• trampilla
• trampista
• tramposo
• entrampar

Related words

• atrapar
• trápala
• French trappe
• English trap

Usage notes

Wiktionary lists the set phrases hacer trampas, hecha la ley, hecha la trampa and sin trampa ni cartón.^[1] In Judeo-Spanish Nehama records a separate trampa “exchange, barter”, which he marks as Turkish.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 589
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trampa
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. trampa
5. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trampa
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. trappa
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. trampa
11. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 693
12. ^ 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. 1041
13. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1344
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 321
15. ^ 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. trampa
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 855
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 759
18. ^ 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. trampa
19. ^ 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. trampa
20. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 223
21. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. trampa