foxo

Galician

FWOTD – 10 April 2013

Alternative forms

• foio

Foxo abandonado (abandoned trapping pit).

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese, attested as fogio in 13th century local documents; from Latin fovea (“pit”), with a change in gender or possibly through a Vulgar Latin form *foveum, or either form Vulgar Latin *fodia. Compare Portuguese fojo, Spanish hoyo, Asturian fueyu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfo.ʃo̝/

Noun

foxo m (plural foxos)

1. pit (hole in the ground)
   • 2004, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Manuel Enrique Vázques Buján (translator), Eloxia da loucura, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, page 168:

     e con non se coñeceren a si mesmos nin veren, por veces, un foxo ou unha pedra diante deles, […]

     and as they didn’t know themselves nor could see, sometimes, a pit or a rock in front of them, […]

   Synonyms: focha, fochanca, pozo

2. trapping pit (a camouflaged pit used to capture large animals)
   • 1326, A. López Ferreiro, editor, Fueros municipales de Santiago y de su tierra, Madrid: Ediciones Castilla, page 398:

     mandamos que enna friigesía que ouuer XV friigeses ou mays poucos, se non tomaren lobo ou loba ou camada delles, ou non correren cada domaa con elles sen enganno segundo que e de custume des o primeyro sabado de quaresma ata dia de Sam Joham de Juyo, ou non fezeren o ffogio, que pagen X mrs.

     We order that in the parish that has 15 parishioners or more, if they don't catch a wolf or litter of them, or if they don't raid them weekly without trickery, as it is customary, since the first Saturday of Lent till Saint John's day in June, or if they don't build the pit, then they shall pay 10 mrs.

   • 1979, Ramón Otero Pedrayo, Historia de Galicia, volume 2, Akal, page 455:

     As trampas son de dúas castes: foxos e garamelos.

     There are two classes of traps: pits and mouse traps.

   Synonyms: couso, trampa

3. moat (defensive ditch surrounding a fortification)
   • 2003, Ermelindo Portela Silva (coordinator), Historia da cidade de Santiago de Compostela, Concello de Santiago de Compostela, Consorcio da Cidade de Santiago de Compostela, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, page 65:

     , […] o bispo que rodeou con muralla, torres e foxo todo o ámbito do Locus Sanctus e que ocupaba o que é hoxe a catedral, a praza da Quintana e os mosteiro de San Paio de Antealtares con algunhas das rúas adxacentes.

     , […] the bishop who surrounded with a wall, towers and a moat the entirety of the Locus Sanctus and which occupied what today is the cathedral, the Quintana square and the monastery of Saint Pelagius with some adjacent streets.

4. (figurative) gap (difference between ideas, concepts or situations)
   • 2005, F. R. Durán Villa, X. M. Santos Solla, Marginados y excluidos: un enfoque interdisciplinar, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, page 12:

     Nesta aldea global na que vivimos e na que se afonda cada vez máis o foxo que separa aos que teñen dos que non teñen, […]

     In this global village we live and where the gap which separates those who have from those who don’t deepens more and more, […]

5. ditch

   Synonyms: cuneta, gabia

Derived terms

• Fixó
• Fixón
• Fixós
• Fojo
• Foxás
• Foxas
• Foxiño
• Foxo
• Foxón

 

Related terms

• Feirobal
• Foilebar
• Follobal

References

• “fogio” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “foxo” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “foxo” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “foxo” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
• “foxa” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Ido

Etymology

From English fox.

Noun

foxo (plural foxi)

1. fox, vixen