louxa

Galician

A traditional lousado or roof tiled with lousa in northern Galicia

Alternative forms

• louja (reintegrationist)
• loixa, lousa, loura

Etymology

Documented in local Medieval Latin as lausa, and in the Iberian peninsula already in the 2nd century; As lapides lausiae, from a local substrate language, perhaps from Proto-Celtic *laws- (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- (“stone”). Cognate with Spanish losa, French lauze, Old Occitan lausa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlowʃɐ/

Noun

louxa f (plural louxas)

1. (uncountable) slatestone
   • 1441, José-Luis Novo Cazón, El priorato santiaguista de Vilar de Donas en la Edad Media (1194-1500), A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 364:

     a a tal condiçon que uos, o dicto Loppo Doucos, façades a dicta casa de pedra et de madeyra et de lousa et do al que ouuer mester et a tenades en bon paramento et ben reparada et morada et con ho orto feyto

     in the condition that you, the mentioned Lopo Doucos, must build that house with stone, and wood, and slate, and the rest of needed things, and that you should keep it in good state, repaired, inhabited and with its garden

2. (countable, uncountable) flagstone
   • 1446, M. Mar Graña Cid, editor, Las órdenes mendicantes en el obispado de Mondoñedo. El convento de san Martín de Villaoriente (1374-1500), page 427:

     que vos avemos de dar dous carros de lousa para cobrir ho dito lagar, et vos que o façades por vosa custa

     we shall give you two carts full of flagstones for roofing that winery, and you should do that at your expenses

3. a slab

Derived terms

• enlousar (“to pave, to roof”)
• Lousa
• Lousada
• Lousadela
• lousado (“roof tiled with flagstones”)
• Lousado
• lousar (“to pave, to roof”)
• louseira (“slate quarry”)
• Louseira
• Louseiro
• Lousame

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “louxa”, 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), “louxa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega