cabaza

Galician

Cabazas for sale (cured gourds used as containers)

Cabaza

Alternative forms

• cabaça (reintegrationist)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese cabaaça, from an earlier *calabaça, probably from a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia *calapaccia.^[1] Cognate with Portuguese cabaça, Spanish calabaza and Catalan carabassa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈβaθa̝/, (western) /kaˈβasa̝/

Noun

cabaza f (plural cabazas)

1. pumpkin, squash, gourd
2. cured gourd used traditionally in Galicia as a container for liquids
   • 1380, M. Lucas Álvarez, P. Lucas Domínguez, editors, El monasterio de San Clodio do Ribeiro en la Edad Media: estudio y documentos, Sada / A Coruña: Edicións do Castro, page 512:

     et por las casas et outras cousas daredes cada ano a min et ao abade do dito moesteiro por razon de forros, huun par de bõõs capoos et huna cabaaça de vino por dia de san Martino.

     and you'll give yearly to me and to the abbot of said monastery, for the rent of the houses and the other things, a pair of good capons and a gourd of wine, the day of Saint Martin

3. (figurative, in the plural) bad grades
   • c. 1810, Antonio Arias Teixeiro, Sonetos con estrambote:

     Son dous Mozos solteiros polas trazas,
     son dous Asnos q[u]e andan sempre juntos,
     foron á Santiago á buscar puntos
     é viñeron cargados de cabazas

     They are two bachelors, judging by the signs
     two asses who always go together
     they went to [the university of] Santiago to make points
     and came back loaded with pumpkins [bad grades]

Related terms

• cabaceira
• cabaceiro
• cabaciña
• cabazo

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cabaç”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cabaaç”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cabaza”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cabaza”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cabaza”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
• “cabaza”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012

1. Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1983–1991) “calabaza”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos