biznaga
English
Noun
biznaga (countable and uncountable, plural biznagas)
- Alternative form of bisnaga (“plant of celery family”)
Spanish
Visnaga daucoides
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Spain) /biθˈnaɡa/ [biθ̬ˈna.ɣ̞a]
- IPA(key): (Latin America) /bisˈnaɡa/ [bizˈna.ɣ̞a]
- Rhymes: -aɡa
- Syllabification: biz‧na‧ga
Etymology 1
From Old Spanish, borrowed from Andalusian Arabic بِسْنَاج (bisnāj), بِسْتِنَاجَة (bistināja), بِشْتِْنَاجَة (bištināja), بِشْتِنَاقَة (bištināqa, “parsnip”), from Latin pastināca (“parsnip, carrot”).
Noun
biznaga f (plural biznagas)
- toothpickweed, khella (Visnaga daucoides (syn. Ammi visnaga))
Descendants
- → Basque: bisnaga, biznaga
- → Catalan: bisnaga, biçnaga (obsolete)
- → Galician: bisnaga, biznaga, bizniega
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl huitznahuac (“surrounded by thorns”), from huitztli (“thorn”) + nciuac (“near, around”). Influenced by biznaga (Etymology 1).
Noun
biznaga f (plural biznagas)
- (Mexico) Any of several species of small, prickly cacti, especially barrel cacti
References
- Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Angeles, editors (2019) Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans. Emprunts à l’arabe et aux langues du Monde Islamique (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, page 252, still referring but to reconstructed Andalusi Arabic “*bis(s)ináqa”, oblivious of the attested forms Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017) Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, page 143, 145, 146
Further reading
- “biznaga”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014