Spanish words from Occitan

21 Spanish words with Occitan in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.

• antorcha

  It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan entorcha, a word that arose from a crossing of entorta (“torch”) with Old French torche (“torch”). The Academy gives the Occitan source as only possible, and…

• bailar

  Corominas considers it borrowed from Old Occitan balar (“to dance”), altered in Spain by crossing with a native bailar (“to rock a cradle”). The Occitan verb is from Late Latin ballāre (“to dance”)…

• batalla

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan batalha, or perhaps borrowed from Medieval Latin battalia as written in Gaul, both from Late Latin battuālia (“fencing exercises”), originally the neuter plural of an…

• bello

  Corominas takes it as borrowed from Old Occitan bel, the word of the troubadours, which goes back to Latin bellus (“pretty”). It is first recorded early in the 13th century, but is absent from the…

• bola

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan bola (“ball”), from Latin bulla (“bubble; knob, ball”). Corominas notes that medieval Spanish said pella for “ball” (Berceo and others), and that the Occitan word…

• desastre

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan desastre (“misfortune”), a word frequent in troubadour poetry. The Occitan noun is formed on astre (“star”), in the sense of a good or evil star, with the pejorative…

• enojar

  Corominas takes it as borrowed from Old Occitan enojar (“to bore, annoy”), from Vulgar Latin inodiāre (“to inspire disgust or horror”), a verb drawn from the Classical phrase in odio esse alicui…

• flauta

  It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan flauta, recorded about 1200. The DLE also gives Occitan as its possible source, and Wiktionary names flaut. The Occitan word is of uncertain formation…

• francés

  The DLE takes it as borrowed from Occitan fransés, and García de Diego and Gómez de Silva also derive it from Provençal. Gómez de Silva allows Old French franceis or françois as an alternative…

• gayo

  1. The word for the jay is inherited from Late Latin gaius, through Old Spanish gayo. The Late Latin bird name is generally taken from the Roman first name Latin Gaius, as urraca “magpie” is a…

• gris

  It is a word of Germanic origin, probably borrowed from Old Occitan gris (“grey”), which is from Frankish *gris (“grey”). The DLE says only that it perhaps comes from Occitan, and Bénaben and Gómez…

• hostal

  It is inherited from Old Spanish ostal, borrowed from Old Occitan ostal (“house, dwelling”), from Late Latin hospitāle (“lodging, guest house”), the noun use of Latin hospitālis (“of a guest or…

• jamás

  It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan ja mais (“ever more”), from Latin iam (“already, now”) and magis (“more”). Although the word is as old as the Cantar de mio Cid, Corominas argues that its…

• lacayo

  Its origin is uncertain. In the DCECH Corominas's likeliest source is borrowed from Old Occitan lacai, an altered form of Old Occitan lecai (“glutton, greedy”), which is derived from lecar (“to…

• malvado

  It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan malvat (“wicked”), from Late Latin malifātius (“ill-fated, unfortunate”). The Latin word is recorded in inscriptions and is formed from malus (“bad”) and…

• marqués

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan marqués (“ruler of a border territory”), a derivative of marca (“march, border territory”). Nocentini also calls the Spanish word a loan from Occitan, and treats…

• mensaje

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan messatge (“message”) (spelt mensage in the oldest texts), a derivative of mes (“messenger”), from Latin missus (“sent; messenger”), the past participle of mittō (“to…

• monje

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan monge, which continues Late Latin monicus, a popular variant of monachus (“anchorite, monk”). Corominas explains the Occitan word as the regular outcome there of the…

• mote

  1. The word for the nickname or motto is borrowed from Old Occitan mot (“word, saying”) or Old French mot. Corominas thinks that the literary senses, “satirical saying” and “short song”, were most…

• pasaje

  DICCA-XV takes it as borrowed from Old Occitan passatge, a derivative of *passare (“to pass”), which comes from passus (“step”), itself from pandō (“to spread out”). García de Diego derives it from…

• trufa

  It is borrowed from Old Occitan trufa (“truffle; jest, nonsense”), which comes from Vulgar Latin tufĕra, a variant of Latin tūber (“swelling; a kind of truffle”). The Old Occitan word is recorded in…

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