fraquén

Galician

Etymology

Attested since the 14th century. From fraco (“weak”) +‎ -én.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɾaˈkɛŋ/

Noun

fraquén f (plural fraquéns)

1. weakness

   Synonyms: debilidade, frouxidade, fraqueza

   • 1393, Alexandra Cabana Outeiro, editor, O Tombo H da catedral de Santiago. Documentos anteriores a 1397, Valga: Concello de Valga, page 82:

     Ruj Garçía, cóengo da dita igleja, ha grandes tenpos que hé muj fraque e doente e porla dita fraquen e doença hé tornado a grande proueza

     Roi García, canon of said church, has been weak and sick for a long time and, because of said weakness and sickness, he has fall into a great poverty

   • 1908, Xesús Rodríguez López, Gallegadas, page 82:

     qu'as leises fá-nas os ricos e pra seu proveito as fan; a casta do rico engorda, sempre a nosa fraca está, e s'un fraco pouco pode, todos xuntos poderán, pois pra quen manda n'é o mesmo quen pide como quen dá; ―A fraquén do entendemento é a pior de cantas hai; ¡Descantiá que necesita máis cultura a nosa cras! Si moito tempo que perde, o empregara en estudiar o obreiro, fose nas leises, ou nos adiantos que hai nas artes do seu ofíceo, abofé ganara máis

     "Because the rich make the laws for their profit; the lineage of the rich fattens, ours is always skinny, but if a slim one can't do nothing, everyone together can, because for the one giving orders it is not the same who gives and who asks"; "The weakness of the thought is the worst there it is; of course, our class needs more culture! If the worker would use in studying (maybe laws, or the advances made in the knowledge of his job) the much time he losses, then for sure he would gain more.

Related terms

• fraco

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “fraquen”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “fraquén”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega