colmea

Galician

two types of traditional Galician colmeas

Alternative forms

• colmeia (reintegrationist)

Etymology

13th century, and attested as colmena in local Medieval Latin documents since 937. From a pre-Roman substrate of Iberia *kŏlmēnā, probably of Celtic origin. From Proto-Indo-European *ḱolh₂mos (“stalk”). Cognate with Portuguese colmeia, Spanish colmena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kolˈmea̝/

Noun

colmea m (plural colmeas)

1. beehive
   • 1281, Clarinda de Azevedo Maia, editor, História do galego-português. Estado linguístico da Galiza e do Noroeste de Portugal do século XII ao século XVI, Coimbra: I.N.I.C, page 133:

     Mando o meu quiñõ daſ colmeaſ de San Migueli de Monte Furado que aſ dia y que arça y a zera por mi alma

     I give also my share of the beehives of Saint Michael in Monte Furado; let the wax burn there for my soul

Derived terms

• colmear

Related terms

• colmo (“thatch”)

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “colmea”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “colmea”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “colmea”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “colmea”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “colmea”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN