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<div>I would add to David's dictionary entries, one definition from
the DICCIONARIO DE AUTORIDADES (1737): Taco. entre los bebedores se
llama tragos de vino, que beben sobre lo que han comido: y asi dicen,
Echemos quatro tacos. This definition does not appear in the
COVARRUBIAS of 1611.</div>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"
color="#000000">Taco has a lot of meanings in Spanish, and apparently
only means "something to eat" in Mexico, if you can go by
the dictionaries. Corominas, working from the basic Castilian
definition as "peg, plug," notes a first use from
1607 , and says:</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">"Esta
palabra, con sus deriv., es comun a las principales lenguas romances
y germanicas del Occidente. [Note: my first question here was: if it
is common to<i> all</i> the Western European languages, what is it in
English? And then I realized: "tack," which like a peg/plug
is used to stick in something. Corominas continues:] De origen
incierto. No hay razones firmes para asegurar si pas'o del germ'anico
al romance o viceversa, o si se cre'o paralelamente en ambos grupos
linguisticos. Quiza imitacion del ruido del tarugo al ser clavado en
la pared." Like other etymologists, he notes that<i> tac'on</i>
is a variant of<i> taco</i>.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Corominas
is notoriously resistant to accepting Nahuatl etymologies, but in
this case he may be onto something. If the word, in its Mexican
sense, were derived from Nahuatl, I would expect to see earlier
occurrences. In Lizardi's<i> Periquillo Sarniento</i> (which I just
finished translating into English, to be published this month by
Hackett--this is another kind of plug!), it is only used once, in the
outmoded phrase "aire de taco," which has nothing to do
with Taco Bell. Prepared food that sounds, from the description, like
a modern-day taco is called instead an<i>
envuelto</i>.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">I notice
that the RAE Diccionario Manual gives among its definitions:
"cilindro de trapo, papel, estopa o cosa parecida, que se coloca
entre la polvora y el proyectil en las armas de fuego, para que el
tiro salga con fuerza" (yet another kind of plug), and also
"canuto de madera con que juegan los muchachos lanzando,
por medio del aire comprimido,<i> tacos</i> de papel o de otra
materia." Based on such images, the snack formed by rolling a
tortilla into a cilinder around a plug of food could metaphorically
be called a taco.</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">(Note,
finally, that nowadays i hear the word<i> taco</i> used in Mexico, at
least in SLP, to refer to any amount of food that one brings home
from a party -- not necessarily rolled in a tortilla; but I assume
this is an extension of the original meaning.)</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>
<hr></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1"><b>From:</b> Nahua
language and culture discussion on behalf of John F.
Schwaller</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1"><b>Sent:</b> Fri
3/5/2004 2:33 PM</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1"><b>To:</b>
NAHUAT-L@LISTS.UMN.EDU</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1"><b>Subject:</b>
Taco</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1">A friend of mine, who is
not a subscriber and who does not study Nahuatl</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1">sent me the following
query:</font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1"><br></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="-1">>But the real reason
I'm writing is to ask you a question about Nahuatl. Is<br>
>there a word for taco? When I looked in Santamaria, the
first gastronomic<br>
>references are from Manuel Payno and Luis Inclan, and of course
the etymology<br>
>is a Spanish (or French) word for a cloth plug for a musket
shot.<br>
<br>
Is there a root in Nahuatl? The closest thing I could come up
with on the<br>
spot was "tlaco" meaning half, perhaps referring to the
folded-over nature<br>
of the tortilla in a taco.<br>
<br>
John F. Schwaller<br>
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean<br>
315 Behmler Hall<br>
University of Minnesota, Morris<br>
600 E 4th Street<br>
Morris, MN 56267<br>
320-589-6015<br>
FAX 320-589-6399<br>
schwallr@mrs.umn.edu</font></blockquote>
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