Gacería
Encyclopedia
Gacería is the name of a slang or argot
employed by the trilleros (or makers of the trillo, or threshing-board
, as well as threshing-sledge) and the briqueros (or makers of brica: metathesis of Spanish word criba sieve
) in the village of Cantalejo, in the Spanish
province of Segovia
. Gacería incorporated French, Basque and Arabic words into its vocabulary, a linguistic practice employed by other traveling professional groups of Castile
. Users of Gacería also incorporated words from Caló (Spanish Romani)
, Germanic languages
and Catalan
-Valencian
.
These trade routes did not usually extend into the Basque Country
or Valencia, but words from these foreign lexicons were incorporated for their foreignness.
Its vocabulary arose amongst those involved in the industry of manufacturing farm implements in the village (yoke
s, wagon
s, footstools; and the threshing-board
, a wooden tool resembling a sledge, with his bottom-side holding many lithic flakes that cuts the pile of cereal crop, in order to separate the grain
of the rest of the plant: threshing
). The argot was thus used by the itinerant salesmen of these products, in opposition to settled villagers. In the face of mechanized agriculture, Gacería has survived amongst those who still sell such ancient farm implements as collectors' items.
. The small vocabulary served those who used it, as only a handful of words from the argot were required for specific occasions, without the need for long speeches or paragraphs. Tracing its evolution or performing any lexicographical
work is difficult, as Gacería employed words that either changed in meaning or were replaced by new words over time. Most of these 353 known words are noun
s; there are some 40 verb
s. Some common adjective
s include: sierte ("good, pleasant, pretty"), gazo ("bad," "stupid," "sick," "ugly" from Basque gaizto), pitoche ("small," "scarce," "little"), sievo ("old," "ancient"), quillado ("annoyed," "crazy," "gravely ill"), and urniaco ("dirty").
Some words were formed through the process of metathesis
. Thus, the Castilian "criba" is brica in Gacería (whence briquero), "cribo" becomes brico, etc. Other words were formed through aphesis
(from "apanar" was derived panar; from "otana," tana). In Gacería, the nouns atrevido and atrevida are used as pronouns to indicate whatever person or thing that currently form the topic of conversation. In Castilian, atrevido carries the meaning of "daring" or "impudent" as an adjective, and "daredevil" or "smart aleck" as a noun.
Gesticulation also plays a large part in giving added meaning to words from Gacería, as one word could potentially have many meanings. "In Gacería eyes speak more than words," one scholar has written. "A simple gesture is enough to change the meaning of a word."http://www.cantalejo.com/gaceria.htm
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
employed by the trilleros (or makers of the trillo, or threshing-board
Threshing-board
A threshing board is an obsolete farm implement used to separate cereals from their straw; that is, to thresh. It is a thick board, made with a variety of slats, with a shape between rectangular and trapezoidal, with the frontal part somewhat narrower and curved upward and whose bottom is covered...
, as well as threshing-sledge) and the briqueros (or makers of brica: metathesis of Spanish word criba sieve
Sieve
A sieve, or sifter, separates wanted elements from unwanted material using a woven screen such as a mesh or net. However, in cooking, especially with flour, a sifter is used to aerate the substance, among other things. A strainer is a type of sieve typically used to separate a solid from a liquid...
) in the village of Cantalejo, in the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
province of Segovia
Segovia (province)
Segovia is a province of central/northern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Burgos, Soria, Guadalajara, Madrid, Ávila, and Valladolid....
. Gacería incorporated French, Basque and Arabic words into its vocabulary, a linguistic practice employed by other traveling professional groups of Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
. Users of Gacería also incorporated words from Caló (Spanish Romani)
Caló (Spanish Romani)
Caló is a language spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese Romani. It is a mixed language based on Romance grammar, with an adstratum of Romani lexical items through language shift by the Romani community. It is often used as an argot, a secret language for discreet communication amongst Iberian...
, Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
and Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
-Valencian
Valencian
Valencian is the traditional and official name of the Catalan language in the Valencian Community. There are dialectical differences from standard Catalan, and under the Valencian Statute of Autonomy, the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has been established as its regulator...
.
These trade routes did not usually extend into the Basque Country
Basque Country (historical territory)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast....
or Valencia, but words from these foreign lexicons were incorporated for their foreignness.
Yoke
A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen...
s, wagon
Wagon
A wagon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float....
s, footstools; and the threshing-board
Threshing-board
A threshing board is an obsolete farm implement used to separate cereals from their straw; that is, to thresh. It is a thick board, made with a variety of slats, with a shape between rectangular and trapezoidal, with the frontal part somewhat narrower and curved upward and whose bottom is covered...
, a wooden tool resembling a sledge, with his bottom-side holding many lithic flakes that cuts the pile of cereal crop, in order to separate the grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
of the rest of the plant: threshing
Threshing
Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain...
). The argot was thus used by the itinerant salesmen of these products, in opposition to settled villagers. In the face of mechanized agriculture, Gacería has survived amongst those who still sell such ancient farm implements as collectors' items.
The mechanics of Gacería
The vocabulary comprises some 353 words, with pronunciation following the phonetic rules of the Spanish languageSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The small vocabulary served those who used it, as only a handful of words from the argot were required for specific occasions, without the need for long speeches or paragraphs. Tracing its evolution or performing any lexicographical
Lexicography
Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
work is difficult, as Gacería employed words that either changed in meaning or were replaced by new words over time. Most of these 353 known words are noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s; there are some 40 verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s. Some common adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s include: sierte ("good, pleasant, pretty"), gazo ("bad," "stupid," "sick," "ugly" from Basque gaizto), pitoche ("small," "scarce," "little"), sievo ("old," "ancient"), quillado ("annoyed," "crazy," "gravely ill"), and urniaco ("dirty").
Some words were formed through the process of metathesis
Metathesis (linguistics)
Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
. Thus, the Castilian "criba" is brica in Gacería (whence briquero), "cribo" becomes brico, etc. Other words were formed through aphesis
Aphesis
In phonetics, apheresis is the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Apheresis as a historical sound change:...
(from "apanar" was derived panar; from "otana," tana). In Gacería, the nouns atrevido and atrevida are used as pronouns to indicate whatever person or thing that currently form the topic of conversation. In Castilian, atrevido carries the meaning of "daring" or "impudent" as an adjective, and "daredevil" or "smart aleck" as a noun.
Gesticulation also plays a large part in giving added meaning to words from Gacería, as one word could potentially have many meanings. "In Gacería eyes speak more than words," one scholar has written. "A simple gesture is enough to change the meaning of a word."http://www.cantalejo.com/gaceria.htm
Some words from Gacería
| Gacería word | English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
Spanish Spanish language Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the... (Castilian Names given to the Spanish language There are two names given to the Spanish language: Spanish and Castilian . Spanish speakers from different countries or backgrounds can show a preference for one term or the other, or use them indiscriminately, but political issues or common usage might lead speakers to prefer one term over the... ) |
origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ante | Yesterday | Ayer | from Galician for "yesterday", onte |
| Bayuca | Tavern | Taberna | |
| Correndeiro | Rabbit | Conejo | from Galician for "runner", |
| Meca | Sheep | Oveja | |
| Nícalos | Ears | Orejas | |
| Sinífaros | Civil Guard Civil Guard The Civil Guard , often abbreviated in Hebrew to Mash'az is a volunteer organization of Israeli citizens which assists in daily police work. It is a subdivision of the Israel Police.-Organization:... |
Guardia Civil | |
| Urdaya | Meat | Carne | from Basque urdaia, "the lard". |
| Zuzón Sierte | Ham | Jamón |
Sources
See also
- BaralleteBaralleteBarallete is a largely vanished argot which used to be employed by the traditional knife-sharpeners and umbrella-repairers of the Galician province of Ourense, in Spain....
- Bron
- CantCant (language)A Cant is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the group.-Derivation in Celtic linguistics:...
- fala dos arxinasFala dos arxinasFala dos arxinas is the name of an argot employed by stonecutters in Galicia, Spain, particularly in the area of Pontevedra, based on galician language...