The Bible in Spain Volume II Part 26

CONSt.i.tUCION. _Span._ Const.i.tution; the const.i.tution of 1812.

CONTRABANDISTA. _Span_ and _Port._ A smuggler.

CONVERSACION. _Span._ Conversation. As an interjection, "Folly!

rubbish!"

COPITA. _Span._ A wine-gla.s.s, or small drinking-cup; dimin. of _copa_.

COPLA. _Span._ and _Port._ A couplet, or a few lines of poetry. The original Spanish of the lines quoted ii. 62 is as follows-

"Un manco escribio una carta; Un siego {395} la esta mirando; Un mudo la esta leyendo; Y un sordo la esta escuchando."

(Rodriguez Marin, _Cantos Populares Espanoles_, tom. iv. p. 364, No.

7434.)

CORAHAI or CORAJAI. _Rom._ The Moors of Northern Africa. P. ii. 127; A. 27; Pp. 320; M. vii. 64.

CORAHANo, fem. CORAHANi. _Rom._ A Moor. See CORAHAI.

CORCHETE. _Span._ and _Port._ A catchpoll. Lit. a clasp; _corchetes_ are "hooks and eyes."

CORcO. _Gal._ A stag, or deer.

CORDOVES. _Span._ Of or belonging to Cordova.

CORREGIDOR. _Span._ A munic.i.p.al magistrate. Orig. a _co-regidor_, or joint administrator of the law; not, as Midshipman Easy and the Boatswain decided, a _corrector_, though the word also has that signification in Spanish. As regards the magistrate, the second _r_ is superfluous and etymologically deceptive.

CORRIDA. _Span._ and _Port._ A racecourse; bull-fight.

CORTAMANGA. The word is not given in any dictionary that I have consulted. Borrow evidently alludes to a vulgar and obscene gesture, usually called _un corte de mangas_. It is made by bringing down the right hand on the left forearm, and raising the left forearm, with the middle finger of the left hand raised and the other fingers bent. It is not under _corte_ or _manga_ either in Covarrubia or the 1730 edit. of the _Dic. Acad. Esp._, or more recent ones, probably on account of its indecent signification. I have never seen it written. The finger part of the business is of course as old as the Romans, and survives still in Italy.

CORTE. _Span._ and _Port._ The king's court; more particularly the city where the court resides-thus the capital. Applied colloquially and in commercial correspondence to Madrid, Lisbon, Rio Janeiro, etc.

CORTEJO. _Span._ and _Port._ A lover. Orig. courtesy or homage.

_Cortejar_ = to do homage to.

CORTES. _Span._ and _Port._ The estates of the realm, parliament.

CORTIJO. _Span._ Farmhouse.

COSAS. _Span._ Things. "_Cosas de Espana_," "_Cosas de Inglaterra_,"

"_Cosas de los Ingleses_." Colloquially equivalent to our, "How Spanish!" "Quite English!"

CRALLIS. _Rom._ King. The Slavonian _kral_. P. ii. 123; Pp. 296; M.

vii. 87.

CREER. _Span._ To believe. _Yo lo creo_, "I believe you, my boy!"

"You bet!"

CRIA. _Span._ and _Port._ A brood.

CRISCOTE. _Rom._ A book. See GABICOTE.

CRISTIANO. _Span._ Christian. Used in Spain for the Spanish language.

CRISTINO. _Span._ A partisan of Queen Christina.

CRUZ. _Span._ and _Port._ A cross; also the withers of a horse or mule.

CRUZADO. _Span._ and _Port._ A coin worth about six shillings. See Burke's _Hist. of Spain_, ii. 286.

CUADRILLA. _Span._ A band.

CUARTO. _Span._ A copper coin of the value of four maravedis, or about one English farthing. Lit. the fourth part of anything.

CUENTA. _Span._ Bill, reckoning.

CUESTA. _Span._ A hill, or mount.

CUIDADO. _Span._ and _Port._ Care, anxiety. The Andalusians and Gitanos say _cuidao_.

CUL. _Arab._ Every, all.

CURA. _Span._ and _Port._ Parish priest. Fr. _cure_; _not_ a "curate."

The writer usually known as _El Cura de Fruime_ (i. 401) was D. Diego Antonio Zernadas de Castro, born at Santiago in 1698. He wrote various works in verse and prose, a complete edition of which, in seven volumes, was published by Ibarra (Madrid, 177881), and was followed by another, in three volumes, in 1783990. A biography of the author, by D.

Fernando Fulgosio, appeared in the _Revista de Espana_, _tomos_ 27, 28 (1872). There was another _Cura de Fruime_, D. Antonio Francisco de Castro, who was also a poet, and who died in 1836.

CURELAR. _Rom._ To do business. P. ii. 111; Pp. 281; M. vii. 88.

CURELo. _Rom._ Trouble, pain. P. ii. 115. See CURELAR.

CURIOSO. _Span._ and _Port._ Inquiring, curious.

DADAS. _Span._ and _Port._ Given. From _dar_.

DAI. _Rom._ Mother. P. ii. 309; Pp. 194; M. vii. 40.

DAOUD. _Arab._ Light. Arab. _?au_. _Daoud Scharr_ = _?au ash-sharr_, light of mischief.

DAR. _Arab._ A house; often found in composition as _Dar-sinah_, _Dar ?ina_'_ah_ (ii. 367), the house of the arts, or handicrafts; _Dar-dwag_, _Dar dabbagh_ (ii. 371), the house of the bark, or tannery.

DEHESA. _Span._ Pasture; applied more particularly to large open tracts of country where the cattle can roam at large.

DEMONIO. _Span._ and _Port._ Demon, devil.

DENHO. _Gal._ The devil; used familiarly, "the deuce."