Enfocando el castellano mar(h)ojo, asturiano marfueyu, gallego y portugués mar(a)follo a través del cat. marfull, ¿continuadores del lat. millef?l?um?

Abstract

Catalan marfull, a plant name of several species, is conceived as a continuation of Latin millef?l?um.

On the other hand, Castilian mar(h)ojo, mal(h)ojo, melojo, Asturian marfueyu, Leonese marfueyo, Galician marfollo and other names of the oak, mistletoe, some moss and algae, are usually understood as descendants of lat. malum folium, and even, in the case of the mistletoe name, an Arabic etymon that would have been transmitted by botanical tradition is proposed.

This paper explores the possibility of extending Latin millef?l?um as the etymon of the second group of voices.

It will be attempted to semantically connect the Catalan plant names with the western and center peninsular voices. We assume in this connection that the Catalan plant name is associated with the climbing plant or ivy prototype. Such a prototype lets us explain the extension of millef?l?um to other coronary plants (oak) or to plants similar to the ivy (misteltoe).

Our hypotheses are supported providing Romance and Latin parallels.

Although our speculation is not intended to refute the hypothesis malum folium, it makes it to some degree dispensable for the studied forms. It should be noted, though, that they can be thought of as concurrent .

Our work is not exhaustive in the sense of achieving an explanation for all the meanings of the signs studied.

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15304/verba.42.1646