turba

turba¹ peat

Pronunciation

• /ˈtuɾba/, [ˈt̪uɾ.β̞a]^[1]

Forms

turba f (plural turbas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for peat is borrowed from French tourbe, which is from Frankish *turba (“tuft of grass”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} French has the word from 1200.^[6][3] The Frankish word is reconstructed from Old High German zurba, Old English turf and Old Norse torf.^[3][2] Kroonen and Orel trace these to Proto-Germanic *turbaz (“turf, peat”), which Kroonen takes as an old derivative of the root Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“to wind”).^[7][8]

The REW traces Italian torba to the French word too, and takes Portuguese turfa, with its ⟨f⟩, for a recent loan from German.^[9] Catalan torba is the same word.^[10] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 derived the Spanish word from German Torf instead, and Moliner simply from Germanic.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record 1595.^[3] The Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Fuenmayor's life of Pope Pius V, where people burn un genero de cesped (dicese Turba) acomodado para el fuego “a kind of turf (it is called turba) suited to the fire” for lack of firewood.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defined it as a turf from which coal is made, and Terreros as a dry earth burnt for heat in Holland, giving French tourbe as its equivalent.^[13][14] The Academy's 1817 edition described it as plant matter altered by fermentation and found in marshy places, used like mineral coal.^[15] Its 1899 edition added the second sense, dung mixed with coal and shaped like adobe bricks to fire brick kilns, which the DLE keeps.^[16][2] Vox notes its use in gardening.^[4] The derivative turbera “peat bog” dates from about 1900.^[3]

Timeline

• 1200 – French tourbe is first recorded.^[6]
• 1595 – first record of the Spanish word.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as turf burnt as fuel.^[13]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros describes its use in Holland.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from German Torf.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the brick-kiln fuel of dung and coal.^[16]
• c. 1900 – turbera “peat bog” is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. peat: a light, dark brown, earthy fossil fuel formed from plant remains.^[2][1][4]
2. dung mixed with coal, used as fuel in brick kilns.^[2]

Word family

• turbera

turba² crowd, mob

Pronunciation

• /ˈtuɾba/, [ˈt̪uɾ.β̞a]^[1]

Forms

turba f (plural turbas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a crowd is borrowed from Latin turba (“commotion; crowd”), a learned word.^{[2][1][10][17]} Corominas lists it among the learned words in the article on turbar, with the senses “confused crowd”, “populace” and “multitude” of the Latin word.^[17] The popular outcomes of the Latin word are Portuguese torva and Asturian torba (“downpour”), and a Spanish torva “whirl of rain or snow”.^[10] The REW lists Sardinian truva, French tourbe and Occitan torba, and gives the Portuguese word the sense “disorder”.^[18]

The Latin noun first meant “disorder, commotion” and then a crowd in movement.^[19][20] The OLD takes it as probably an adaptation of Ancient Greek τύρβη (túrbē, “tumult, disorder”), and Wiktionary traces that to Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to rotate, swirl”).^[19][1] De Vaan finds the old link with a root meaning “to hurry” very doubtful; he considers a form related to στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”), with turba as a dialect variant.^[20]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first clear record of the noun is in Juan Fernández de Heredia's Gran crónica de España of 1385: grant turba de gent mal compassada “a great crowd of ill-ordered people”.^[21] Corominas's first record is Juan de Mena, about 1440.^[17]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias defined it as the confused, disorderly crowd, and Autoridades called it a purely Latin word and quoted Cervantes's Persiles.^[22][13] In the Americas it is recorded from 1683 in the Nuevo Reino de Granada.^[23] Moliner notes that it is most often plural and used of a crowd acting tumultuously, and Vox marks it as pejorative.^[12][4] The Latin phrase turba multa gave turbamulta in 1578.^[24][25]

In Puerto Rico turba is a bully or tough; the Tesoro PR ties the word to the gangs who attacked Puerto Rican patriots in 1902 with the approval of the annexationist Republican Party.^[26][27]

Timeline

• 1385 – Fernández de Heredia writes of grant turba de gent.^[21]
• c. 1440 – Juan de Mena uses the word.^[17]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia records it.^[17]
• 1578 – turbamulta is first recorded.^[24]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines the confused crowd.^[22]
• 1683 – first record in the Americas.^[23]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin turba.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A confused, disorderly crowd; a mob, often in the plural: La turba rompió las ventanas del ayuntamiento.^{[2][12][4][1]}
2. (Puerto Rico, masculine) A bully, a tough.^[27][26]