espliego
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from Aragonese espligo, from Latin spīculum (literally “little spike”) with metathesis of /l/. Coromines & Pascual propose that the word was interpreted as a derivative of pliego (“sheet of paper”) to explain the replacement of /i/ with /je/. At the time, there was /i~je/ alternation in numerous lexical items, such as castiello~castillo or aviespa~avispa. Compare Catalan espígol, Galician esprego.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /esˈpljeɡo/ [esˈplje.ɣ̞o]
- Rhymes: -eɡo
- Syllabification: es‧plie‧go
Noun
espliego m (plural espliegos)
- lavender
- Synonyms: alhucema, cantueso, lavanda, lavándula
References
- Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1984), “espliego”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volume II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 750
Further reading
- “espliego”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014