furco

Attested from 1033 in local Medieval Latin charters.[1] From Latin furca (“pitchfork”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfuɾko̝/

furco m (plural furcos)

1. the distance between the outstretched tips of the index finger and thumb when used as a unit of measurement, equals to 1/6 of a vara, or 1/12 of a braza (fathom)
   • 1438, X. Ferro Couselo (ed.), A vida e a fala dos devanceiros. Escolma de documentos en galego dos séculos XIII ao XVI. Vigo: Galaxia, page 413:

     Iten, os ditos Gonçaluo Ferrnandes e Gonçaluo Ferreiro se obrigaron de trager pera a obra da ponte d'Ourense oyteenta trabes de carballo, que ajan cada hua viinte e sete cóbedos conpridos en longo et que sejan da grosura que diser Diego Afonso, e aja en cabo cada trabe hun furco de grosura, et eno outro cabo aquela gordura que rasonauel for, según diser o dito Diego Afonso.

     Item, the aforementioned Gonzalvo Fernández and Gonzalvo Ferreiro committed to bring, for the the work of the bridge of Ourense, eighty beans of oak, each one twenty seven cubits in long and the thickness that Diego Afonso would say, and in one extreme each bean must have one furco in thick, and in the other whatever thickness which is reasonable, according to what Diego Afonso would say

2. plait of garlics or onions

• Furco

• Confurco
• forcada
• forcado
• forca

• “furco” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “furco” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “furco” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “furco” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.