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)

1. lavender

   Synonyms: alhucema, cantueso, lavanda, lavándula

References

• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1984) “espliego”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 750

Further reading

• “espliego”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014