tocayo

Spanish

FWOTD – 15 December 2015

Etymology

Unknown. First attested in 1739. Attributed by folk etymology to the Latin bridal formula "Ubi tū Gāius ego Gāia" (literally “where you are Gaius, I am Gaia”). More likely a Mexican Spanish term from Classical Nahuatl tōcāyoh (“one who has a name, person of renown”), the possessive form of the noun tōcāitl (“name”), via its possessed form, as in notōcāyoh (“my name-haver, one having my name”); contrast with notōca (“my name”) and notōcāyō (“my fame”); compare synonymous colombroño, ultimately from Latin cōgnōmen (“surname, name”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /toˈkaʝo/ [t̪oˈka.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /toˈkaʝo/ [t̪oˈka.ʝo]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /toˈkaʃo/ [t̪oˈka.ʃo]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /toˈkaʒo/ [t̪oˈka.ʒo]

• Rhymes: -aʝo
• Syllabification: to‧ca‧yo

Noun

tocayo m (plural tocayos, feminine tocaya, feminine plural tocayas)

1. namesake (person having the same name)

   Synonym: (rare) colombroño

   • 1909, José de la Colina, De libertades fantasmas o de la literatuta como juego, Fondo de Cultura Economica, →ISBN:

     Pero espero que consienta usted en esta entrevista, puesto que se hará entre hermanos y tocayos. —Tú eres mi tocayo, pero no mi hermano. Para mí, eres un perfecto desconocido, o siquiera un imperfecto desconocido.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2007, Julio Cortázar, La vuelta al día en ochenta mundos, Siglo XXI de España Editores, →ISBN, page 7:

     A mi tocayo le debo el título de este libro y a Lester Young la libertad de alterarlo sin ofender la saga planetaria de Phileas Fogg, Esq. Una noche en que Lester llenaba de humo y lluvia la melodía de Three Little Words, sentí más que nunca […]

     To my namesake I owe the title of this book and to Lester Young the freedom to alter it without offending the planetary saga of Phileas Fogg, Esq. One night when Lester was filling with smoke and rain the melody of Three Little Words, I felt more than ever […]

Descendants

• → Bikol Central: tokayo
• → Cebuano: tokayo
• → Chamorro: kåyu
• → Haitian Creole: tokay
• → Ilocano: tocayo
• → Portuguese: tocaio
• → Tagalog: tokayo

References

• Carlos Montemayor et al. (2009) Diccionario del náhuatl en el español de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, page 403

Further reading

• “tocayo”, 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