vulpeja

Forms

vulpeja f (plural vulpejas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote the word gulpeja and golpeja; the Aragonese Vidal Mayor has golpeilla.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish gulpeja, inherited from Latin vulpēcula (“little fox”), a diminutive of vulpēs (“fox”).^[2][3][1][4] The old form with g- was the usual one, with the variant golpeja; the spelling with the Latin v- is found in Covarrubias and the Diccionario de Autoridades, when the word was probably no longer in everyday use.^[2] Old Spanish also kept the simple noun, golpe (“fox”), in the Libro de Alexandre.^[2]

Corominas considers the g- very old and general: a Leonese charter of 1060 already spells a place name ⟨Kolpelera⟩, which he reads as ⟨golpelera⟩.^[2] Meyer-Lübke, García de Diego and Gamillscheg explained the g- by a crossing with Frankish *wulf (“wolf”) or *hwelp (“whelp”).^[2][5] Corominas rejects such crossings between names of different animals and sees a regular sound change, found also in Portuguese, Italian and Romansh;^[2] García de Diego himself calls the Germanic influence unnecessary.^[4] The REW instead takes the Old Spanish word from Old French.^[5]

The same diminutive is Portuguese golpelha, recorded from the 14th century,^[6][7] and Asturian vulpeya.^[8] Old French gupil (modern French goupil) and Catalan volpell (“cowardly”) continue a masculine *vulpiculus.^[9][10]

Wiktionary traces the Latin noun through Proto-Italic *wolpis to Proto-Indo-European *h₂wl̥p- (“fox”), comparing Ancient Greek ἀλώπηξ (alṓpēx);^[1] the DHLF calls the Latin word of unknown origin.^[9] The learned vulpécula is a doublet of the same Latin word.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the plural and singular golpejas, golpeja in the Moamín of Abraham of Toledo (1250, in a copy of the second half of the 13th century), in a passage on hunting omens: si encontraren golpeja diestra que uenga “if they meet a fox coming from the right”.^[11][12] The Calila e Dimna of 1251 has the form gulpeja: una gulpeja fanbrienta pasó por un árbol “a hungry fox passed by a tree”.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century gulpeja was still usual, or at least traditional: Juan Ruiz, Sem Tob and the Libro de los gatos use it, and Sem Tob's proverb sets the two animals against each other: la verdad es leona, la mentira es gulpeja “truth is a lioness, the lie is a vixen”.^[2] The word was already declining, as raposa and later zorra took its place.^[2]

The dictionaries from the Autoridades on define vulpeja simply as “the same as zorra”, and the Academy still refers to zorra today.^[13][14][3] In the 19th century Echegaray adds a figurative use for a cunning, scheming man.^[15] Spanish writers in the Americas used the word in the 16th century, in New Granada in 1588 and in Mexico City in 1591.^[16] Vox labels it formal.^[17]

Timeline

• 1060 – a Leonese charter has the place name Kolpelera, which Corominas takes as a sign of the early g-.^[2]
• 1250 – golpeja in the Moamín.^[11]
• 1251 – gulpeja in the Calila e Dimna.^[2][11]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz uses gulpeja in the Libro de buen amor, with the manuscript variant golpeja.^[2][11]
• 1588 – the first record from the Americas, in New Granada.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades enters the form vulpeja as a synonym of zorra.^[13]
• 1917 – Alemany gives the etymology from Latin vulpēcula.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal) A fox (zorra), especially a vixen: Una vulpeja cruzó el sembrado al amanecer.^[3][17][1]

Related words

• vulpécula
• vulpino
• Latin vulpes
• Portuguese golpelha

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 n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 846
3. ^ a b c 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. vulpeja
4. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. vulpecula
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9463
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. golpelha
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 853
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. vulpeya
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. goupil
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. volpell
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. vulpeja
12. ^ 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. vulpeja
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 530
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1101
15. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 743
16. ^ 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. vulpeja
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. vulpeja
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1674