vara

Forms

vara f (plural varas)^[1] Old Spanish texts write it vara and uara.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish vara, inherited from Latin vāra (“crossbar; forked pole”).^[3][4][5][1] In Latin it was a technical word of builders, for a crossbar like a bridge, a forked prop and a trestle for sawing wood, and it is the feminine of the adjective vārus (“bent outwards, bow-legged”).^[3][4] In Romance its senses widened and it took over the place of virga for any long thin stick.^[3]

The word survives only in Ibero-Romance, as Portuguese vara, Galician vara and Catalan vara, and perhaps in Occitan varo “switch”; Sardinian vara keeps narrower senses.^[3][6][7] For the Latin adjective de Vaan tentatively reconstructs *wāro- and compares vānus (“empty”) and vāstus (“empty, desolate”), if the first sense was “with the legs apart”; he finds no other proposal convincing.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first reliable record is the Fuero de Cáceres (c. 1234–1275), where it is a measure of cloth: Los tecedores de Caceres texcan la uara del sayal a II dineros “Let the weavers of Cáceres weave the vara of serge for two dineros”.^[9] Corominas's first record is the Libro de Alexandre (c. 1250), which alludes to the custom of calling pigs with a stick: semejava que todos hy venien a vara “it seemed that all came there to the stick”.^[3][4] In Alfonso X's Lapidario it is a plain rod held by a figure: un omne sannudo que tiene una uara en su mano diestra “an angry man who holds a rod in his right hand”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Juan Ruiz uses correr la vara for “to flog”, and he and the Conde Lucanor also have the word as a measure of length.^[3] Nebrija's Latin equivalents show the range of the word around 1495: the royal sceptre, the rod of justice, the ambassador's staff and the goad.^[3] Covarrubias described in 1611 the switches used to beat cloths and to punish offenders, the sceptre of Scripture, the measure for cloth and the falconer's perch.^[11][12]

The Diccionario de Autoridades described the rod carried as a badge of jurisdiction by officers of justice, with a cross on top on which oaths were taken, jurar en vara de justicia.^[13] Because one man with his stick could drive a certain number of pigs, a herd of pigs is una vara de cerdos in Cespedosa and in the Portuguese of Alentejo.^[3] In Asturias vara del llaviegu is the beam of the plough.^[3]

In the Americas the measure is recorded from 1512 in Puerto Rico.^[14] In the Canaries vara is the vine shoot, and in Guatemala the punting pole of a boat.^[15][16] The Spanish vara of length varied between about 768 and 912 mm from region to region.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1234–1275 – the Fuero de Cáceres uses uara as a measure of cloth.^[9]
• c. 1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has venir a vara.^[3][4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has it for a rod held in the hand.^[10]
• 14th century – Juan Ruiz has correr la vara “to flog”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija lists the rod of justice and the royal and ambassadorial staffs.^[3]
• 1512 – the first record in the Americas, as a measure, in Puerto Rico.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the measure for cloth.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades describes the staff of justice.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thin branch or switch stripped of leaves.^[5][1]
2. The flowering stem of some plants, such as the tuberose or the lily.^[5]
3. A long thin stick or pole: Tumbaban las nueces con una vara.^[5][1]
4. A staff carried as a badge of authority, once by officers of justice and now by mayors.^[5][1]
5. The jurisdiction of which that staff is the badge.^[5]
6. (historical) A measure of length that varied by region between about 768 and 912 mm; a yardstick of that length; a piece of cloth of that length.^[5][1]
7. Each of the two shafts of a cart, between which the animal is harnessed.^[5]
8. (bullfighting) A thrust of the lance given to the bull by the picador.^[5][1]

Word family

• varazo
• varal
• varear
• varejón
• vareta
• varilla
• varita
• varapalo
• varilarguero

Related words

• Latin vārus
• Portuguese vara

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. vara
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 739
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vara
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. vara
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 7036
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9150
8. ^ 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 Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. vara
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. vara
11. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1370
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. 1371
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 421
14. ^ 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. vara
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. vara
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. vara