If there is something that we have to maintain in Seville at all costs is that vocabulary so rich in nuances that has been transmitted from generation to generation.
In fact, it recently became known that the new Interactive Linguistic Atlas of the Accents of Andalusia is on its way to provide a sound map that integrates the rich speech of the different Andalusian regions.
On another level, this compilation of often outdated words aims to continue to enhance the heritage of the language.
Chochitos
When we speak of chochitos we affectionately refer to lupins, although in the south (and also in the rest of the peninsula) it also has a vulgar meaning. Where do the two meanings connect?
Chocho comes from the Andalusian Romance šóš, which comes from the Latin salsus (salty). Over time, the “l” vocalized in u, creating the diphthong sausu* which, finally, monoptonged in 0. In short, the word that comes to us is this.
The chochos, these peladillas that were given to the children, would also refer with time (possibly because of the shape of the lupine) to the vulva.
Contrary to what might be expected, this way of naming the lupine is prior to the crude genital appellative and it is the former who gave the name to the latter.
Barzon
To barzon is the same as to go for a walk for pleasure, to wander, to take a walk. For example: I’m going to barzonear a little in Santa Cruz.
Gandinga
Gandinga is all the offal such as kidneys, criadillas, tongue and other delicacies. At least, this is the meaning it has in Seville, Cadiz and Huelva.
The offal of the slaughter receives the same name in Cuba, although the word also derives in expressions such as echar la gandinga (to work so hard that it seems you are going to give back your own entrails) or tener gandinga, in reference to those who are brazen.
For its part, in Extremadura, gandinga appears in Dichos y modismos del lenguaje extremeño, by Eleuterio Gómez Sánchez, as someone “sin oficio. With no one to order him; not subject to rules”. The etymology, therefore, is misleading.
According to etymologies of chili, it is possible that it is a word that traveled back and forth, one of those that traveled to America and returned transformed. It is possible that a word like gandaya arrived in Cuba whose meaning, “free and vagabond life” could be related to gandul, idler.
Perhaps these gandules swarmed around the plazas and slaughterhouses, rubbing elbows with jiferos and slaughterers who, by custom, were paid with offal (ears and tails, above all).
In short, it is a word that would belong to that semantic field that includes the poor, slaves and hustlers, related to offal and to those who were looking for something to put in their gullets.
Vaina
We still hear this word in the street from time to time. We use it to refer to someone who is a soplagaitas. It is a synonym for ‘imbecile’, but more subtle.
Sollo
Nowadays it is used in Seville and other Andalusian provinces to refer derogatorily to someone who is fat.
But what happens if we check the meaning of the word in the RAE? The word we find is sturgeon, a fish that swims up rivers to spawn and from whose roe the iconic caviar is prepared.
The curious fact is that in Sanlúcar and Trebujena the sturgeon of the Guadalquivir, which, when spawning, were fatter and full of roe, were used to commercialize the caviar.
Búcaro
It is a ceramic vessel that contains water, basically a “botijo”. In this case it is a word of Galician-Portuguese origin (púcaro) which, in turn, comes from the Mozarabic (búcaro) and this from the Latin poculum: cup.
Possibly poculum is the result of an undocumented form of potare, to drink.
Calentitos
Time goes by and the expression “voy a por calentitos” continues to abound, much more than referring to them as churros. And that is how the Sevillian population designates them: here we tell you why.
Amanglado
It is said of someone who is snorted or in the grapevine.
Raft
The doctor will call it mucus in the throat, but your mother will tell you that what you have is balsas.
Enguachinar
Remember poor Cinderella cleaning the floor of the mansion? That’s enguachinar. Cleaning the old-fashioned way without mops or other modern gadgets.
The Real Academia de la Lengua Española gives it a similar meaning to a similar word, enaguachar: “to fill with water a thing in which it is not convenient to have so much”.