bacallà

Catalan

Etymology

From Dutch bakaliaw, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Latin baculum (“stick, staff”), referring to the way cod were split and dried on wooden sticks.

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".

Cognate to Italian baccalà, Portuguese bacalhau, Spanish bacalao.

Pronunciation
  • (Balearic, Central) IPA(key): /bə.kəˈʎa/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /ba.kaˈʎa/
  • Rhymes: -a

Noun

bacallà m (plural bacallans)

  1. cod
    Synonym: abadejo

References
  • Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
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