baccalà

Italian

Etymology

Uncertain. If the element *bak- is a metathesis of *kab- (compare French cabillaud and German Kabeljau from Dutch kabeljauw), then the original form of the word could have been *cabalao, maybe meaning "large-headed fish" (cf. Ibero-Romance words, such as Spanish cabo, cabal, from Latin caput (“head”)). (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?)

Cognate to Catalan bacallà, Portuguese bacalhau, Spanish bacalao.

Noun

baccalà m (invariable)

  1. salt cod, stockfish
  2. (figuratively) a foolish person
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.