Organigrama semántico de una familia etimológica: el español maca ‘señal que queda en la fruta por algún daño recibido’ y sus cognados románicos

Abstract

While dealing with unknown or uncertain etymologies where the sole application of sound laws has proved its inefficiency, a semantic perspective appears to be the first necessary step of the investigation. By taking as a methodological basis the model of semantic analysis proposed in Georgescu (2021) and the method of comparative grammar – reconstruction (cf. Buchi and Schweickard, 2014), after identifying the Romance cognates of Sp. maca, we trace the recurring patterns of semantic evolution that define this etymological family, which will allow us to visualize the position occupied by the Spanish word within the conceptual network. Thus, we will observe that words previously treated separately in lexicography originate, in fact, in a single etymon whose primary meaning is related to the idea of ‘impetus’, ‘blow’. The reconstruction based on the comparative grammar method leads to the postulation of a prototype */'makk-/, which could only be interpreted as an onomatopoeic root, the basic expression of a sudden movement.