bacallà

Catalan

Etymology

From Dutch bakkeljauw, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Latin baculum (“stick, staff”), referring to the way cod were split and dried on wooden sticks.

If the element *bak- is a metathesis of *kab- (compare French cabillaud and German Kabeljau from Dutch kabeljauw), then the original form of the word could have been *cabalao, maybe meaning "large-headed fish". First attested in 1640.

Cognate to Italian baccalà, Portuguese bacalhau, Spanish bacalao.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [bə.kəˈʎa]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ba.kaˈʎa]
• Rhymes: -a

Noun

bacallà m (plural bacallans)

1. cod

   Synonym: abadejo

Derived terms

• abacallanar-se
• bacallà àrtic
• bacallà polar
• bacallaner
• tallar el bacallà

References

• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

Further reading

• “bacallà” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “bacallà”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “bacallà” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “bacallà” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.