carabela

Galician

Alternative forms

• carabel, caravel, caravela, crabela

Etymology

Attested locally since the 14th century. From a diminutive of Late Latin carabus (“coracle”), from Ancient Greek κάραβος (kárabos, “light ship, horned beetle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kɑɾaˈβɛlɐ]

Noun

carabela f (plural carabelas)

1. caravel
   • 1440, Á. Rodríguez González (ed.), Livro do Concello de Pontevedra (1431-1463). Pontevedra: Museo de Pontevedra, page 145:

     que d'oje este dito dia endeante non entrase byno algũu de fora parte per mar nen per terra ẽna dita billa, salvo o byno da caravela de Juan Bieites, que agora estava aa Ponte da dita billa

     that from today on, no wine can enter, either by sea or by land, in said town, with the exception of the wine inside the caravel of Xoán Bieites, which is now [moored] at the bridge of said town

2. picnic basket; parcel with provisions, or provisions taken to a journey
   • 1697, Juan Antonio Torrado, Fala o corvo:

     Donde se gasta, è conforme
     Milleyros de carabelas,
     Como cada dia entran
     Por essas portas faxeyras.

     Where they use, naturally,
     thousands of parcels [food baskets],
     as each day enter
     through these Gates of the Beeches

3. date shell (Lithophaga lithophaga)
4. Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis)

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “caravel”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “carabela”, 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), “carabela”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “carabela”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese caravela or Galician caravela, diminutive of cáravo or cárabo, from Byzantine Greek κάραβος (kárabos, “light ship, horned beetle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɾaˈbela/ [ka.ɾaˈβ̞e.la]
• Rhymes: -ela
• Syllabification: ca‧ra‧be‧la

Noun

carabela f (plural carabelas)

1. (nautical, historical) caravel (a light, usually lateen-rigged sailing ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish for about 300 years from the 15th century, first for trade and later for voyages of exploration)

Derived terms

• carabela portuguesa

 

Further reading

• “carabela”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10