chuzo

Galician

A nightwatch, armed with a chuzo

Etymology

Attested since 1707. Probably from Spanish chuzo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃu.θʊ], (western) [ˈt͡ʃu.sʊ]

Noun

chuzo m (plural chuzos)

1. rustic spear traditionally used to chase wolves

   Synonym: lanza

   • 1707, Salvador Francisco Roel, Entremés ao real e feliz parto da nosa raíña:

     Alberte falemos craros
     nosoutros temos a culpa,
     que se foramos armados
     con aguilladas e chuzos,
     ouberàmos de botalos
     alò para en cas de Iudas.

     "Alberte, let's make this clear:
     we are to blame,
     because if we had been armed
     with goads and spears
     we would have driven them back
     there until Judas's house."

2. spiked stick
3. piston of a squirt gun

Derived terms

• chuzar

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “chuzo”, 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), “chuzo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “chuzo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈt͡ʃuθo/ [ˈt͡ʃu.θo]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /ˈt͡ʃuso/ [ˈt͡ʃu.so]
• Rhymes: -uθo
• Rhymes: -uso
• Syllabification: chu‧zo

Etymology 1

Unknown. Probably a metathetical variant of azuche (“the pointed end of a pole”) from Arabic الزُجّ (az-zujj), but it may be just expressive.

Noun

chuzo m (plural chuzos)

1. spiked stick
2. icicle

   Synonym: carámbano

3. (Chile) old horse
4. (Chile) idiot; dummy
5. (Cuba) whip
6. (Colombia) skewered meat, kebab

Derived terms

• caer chuzos de punta

 

Descendants

• → Catalan: xuixo, xutxo
• → Galician: chuzo
• → Portuguese: chuço

Etymology 2

Verb

chuzo

1. first-person singular present indicative of chuzar

Further reading

• “chuzo”, 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
• Corriente, F. (1997) “azuche”, in A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East; 29)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 218
• Simonet, Francisco Javier (1888) “thauchól طوجل”, in Glosario de voces ibéricas y latinas usadas entre los mozárabes (in Spanish), Madrid: Establecimiento tipográfico de Fortanet, page 536