arrafẽes

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• arrefẽes, arrefenas

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic رَهِين (rahīn).

Noun

arrafẽes f pl

1. hostages
   • 1373 January 20, Fernán Martís, “Cõmo Achilis outr̃gou Abatalla [a] eytoꝛ [How Achilles granted a battle to Hector]” (chapter 194), in Cronica Troiana [Trojan Chronicle], translation of Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, pages 81–81v:

     Depoỹs q̃ eytoꝛ ouuo acabada ſua rrazõ. Achil̃s ouuo grã ſaña ⁊ diſſo aſſy Çerto en q̃nto eu viua ſenp̃ ſerey aontado. ſſe eſto por mj̃ ficaꝛ. Ca me ſẽeria deſonrra pa todos los dias de mj̃a uida. mays logo ſen ouẗ detardança veñan as / arrafẽes da uoſſa par̃t ⁊ eu logo farey vijr as da mj̃a. Et mãdade logo trageꝛ as armas ⁊ entremos ẽno cãpo. Ca eu nõ q̃ro out^o p̃zo. ⁊ ſabede q̃ deſto nõ me farey afora. p̃ nehũa maneyra

     After Hector finished his speech, Achilles felt a great hatred and he said: “Certainly, while I live, I'll always be ashamed if I leave it like this. It would be a dishonour for every day of my life. Then, with no delay, tell them to bring the hostages of yours and I'll soon bring mine. And tell them to bring the weapons already and we enter the field because I don't want another date. And be aware that I won't desist from it, in no way.”

Usage notes

• Only attested in the plural.

Descendants

• Galician: refén, arrafén
• Portuguese: refém

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “arr@fees”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “arraf”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG