Language, Literature and Jewellery. The "Axuayca" in the "Cancionero" of Baena"

Authors

  • Ana Labarta Universidad de Valencia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5944/epos.35.2019.24345

Keywords:

Spanish, Arabic, loanwords, moriscos, Bible

Abstract

In its first part, this article comments on a series of quotations documenting three words found in Spanish texts and transcribed from Arabic: xabecaaxubayca and axuayca. The latter was well known through the Cancionero of Baena. Documented in the Andalusian area between 1341 and 1568, the references allow us to state that axuayca is a graphic variant of axubayca, which in turn is a diminutive of xabeca, the Arabic voice for ‘net’. The data fit together and provide the key to knowing what kind of jewel it was: a necklace made of pearls, precious stones and gold beads forming a net.

The second part is dedicated to showing why previous proposals aiming to explain the etymology and meaning of this word are not valid, in particular the one that modified the term by turning it into axurayca to make it the diminutive of ajorca, a type of bracelet. The conclusion is that the spelling axuayca in the Cancionero of Baena is correct and should not be amended.

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Author Biography

Ana Labarta, Universidad de Valencia

Catedrática de Estudios Árabes e Islámicos

Published

2020-05-25

How to Cite

Labarta, A. (2020). Language, Literature and Jewellery. The "Axuayca" in the "Cancionero" of Baena". Epos : Revista De filología, (35), 161–180. https://doi.org/10.5944/epos.35.2019.24345

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