tropa

Forms

tropa f (plural tropas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French troupe (“band of animals or people; troop”).^[2][3][4][1] The French word seems to be a back-formation from troupeau, Old French tropel (“flock”), which Spanish took as tropel and which influenced the ⟨o⟩ of the Spanish word.^[2][3] The DHLF also allows that the French word was formed as a feminine from an old noun trop.^[5]

The Old French word is a diminutive of that noun, at first “flock”, later the adverb “much, too much”, attested in the Lex Alamannorum as Medieval Latin troppus.^[2][5] Its origin is uncertain;^[2][3][5] Corominas and the DHLF derive it, probably, from Frankish *throp (“assembly”), akin to German Dorf (“village”), which in some German and Scandinavian dialects means a gathering of the village's people.^[2][3][5]

Cascales in 1617 cited the word as an Italianism, since Italian truppa is a military word, but Corominas notes that the Italian word is itself a fairly late borrowing from French, and thinks a direct borrowing from French more likely.^[2] The word passed from French into many European languages, among them Truppe and the English word troop.^[2] The Academy's dictionaries of 1884 and 1899 explained the word as a metathesis of Latin turba (“crowd”), and Alemany in 1917 derived it from the same Medieval Latin word.^[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word first in 1605, in Góngora's „una virginal tropa de sequaces de Diana”, “a maidenly band of Diana's followers”, and Cervantes's „una hermosa tropa de huéspedes”, “a fine band of guests”, in the Quijote.^[2][3] It is still missing from Nebrija, Percyvall and Covarrubias.^[2] The CDH has earlier hits from documents and accounts of 1387–1491 (una cama de tropa, vna tropa de su Alteza), and Boyd-Bowman dates a Mexican record, „vino casi toda la tropa de paz”, to 1532.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Corominas thinks the word came in as a military term in the wars of the 16th century, although its first literary uses are not military.^[2] Autoridades took the military sense as the basic one, soldiers as against civilians, and added a troop of cavalry, a band of people gathered for some purpose, a multitude of things, and en tropa “together, without order”.^[11][2] The Academy added in 1843 the drum or bugle call and tropa de línea and tropa ligera, and in 1869 the rank and file as against their officers.^[12][13]

In the Americas a tropa is a pack train, a herd of cattle driven from one place to another and, in Argentina, a caravan of carts.^{[4][14][15][16]} Una tropa de ganado is recorded in Guatemala in 1635.^[10] In Cuba and Mexico un tropa is a rake or an ill-bred person.^[17][18][19]

Timeline

• 1532 – Boyd-Bowman's earliest record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[10]
• 1605 – the first record for Corominas, in Cervantes and Góngora.^[2][3]
• 1610 – tropas de jente sent from Buenos Aires to help Chile.^[10]
• 1617 – Cascales calls the word an Italianism.^[2]
• 1635 – una tropa de ganado “a herd of cattle” in Guatemala.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the military sense first.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the military call and tropa de línea.^[12]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the sense “sergeants, corporals and soldiers”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy derives the word from Latin turba.^[6]
• 1917 – Alemany records the South American senses “pack train” and “caravan of carts”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group or crowd of people gathered for some purpose.^[4][1]
2. (derogatory) rabble.^[4]
3. The military, as against civilians.^[4][1]
4. (military) The rank and file: soldiers and corporals.^[4]
5. (military) The call that tells the troops to take up arms and form up.^[4]
6. (military, in the plural) The troops, the units that make up an army, division or garrison: Las tropas cruzaron el río al amanecer.^[4][1]
7. (South America) A pack train of animals.^[4][14]
8. (Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay) Cattle driven from one place to another.^[4][14]
9. (Argentina) A caravan of carts used for trade.^[4][16]

Word family

• tropilla
• tropero
• portatropas

Related words

• tropel
• atropellar
• French troupe
• Italian truppa

Usage notes

Tropa de línea is a force that fights in close order, and tropa ligera one that fights in open order.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 661
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tropa
4. ^ 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. tropa
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. troupeau
6. ^ 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. 1055
7. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 988
8. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1620
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. tropa
10. ^ a b c d e 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. tropa
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 366
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 721
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 769
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. tropa
15. ^ Granada, Daniel (1890), Vocabulario rioplatense razonado, 2nd ed., Montevideo: Imprenta Rural, p. 366
16. ^ a b Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 486
17. ^ Suárez, Constantino (1921), Vocabulario cubano, La Habana: Librería Cervantes / Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. 503
18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 796
19. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 1091