colmẽa

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *colmēna, borrowed from Proto-Celtic *kolmēnā, derived from *kŏlmos (“straw”). Compare Galician colmea, Spanish colmena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kol.ˈmẽ.a/

Noun

colmẽa f

1. beehive
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 128 (facsimile):

     Eſta e do corpo de n[oſtr]o ſennor / que un vilão metera en hũa / ſa colmẽa por aver muito mel / i muita cera […]

     This one is (about) the body of our Lord, which a peasant placed in one of his beehives because there was a lot of honey and a lot of wax […]

Descendants

• Fala: colmea
• Galician: colmea
• Portuguese: colmeia