papafigo

Galician

From papar (“to eat”) +‎ figo (“fig”). The name of the sail, already attested in 1433, must derive from the name of the bird.^[1]

papafigo m (plural papafigos)

(ornithology) oriole (Oriolus oriolus)
Synonyms: vichelocrego, ouriolo
(nautical) mainsail
- 1433, Ángel Rodríguez González & José Armas Castro (eds.), Minutario notarial de Pontevedra (1433-1435). Santiago de Compostela: Consello da Cultura Galega, page 53:
  hũu estrenque d'esparto novo et hũu estrenque vello d'esparto, et con seu treu que son tres monetas et hũu papafigo et con todos los outros seus aparellos
  a new rope of esparto, and an old one also of esparto, with its set of sails, composed of three minor sails and a mainsail, with all the additional rigging

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

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “papa III”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Verb-object compound, composed of papa (“to gobble”) +‎ figo (“fig (obsolete)”).

papafigo m (plural papafigos)