almiar

Spanish

Etymology

Coromines and Pascual consider it to reflect the ellipsis of an unattested Late Latin (pertica) mediālis (“pole that goes in the middle of a haystack to hold it together”), with the meaning subsequently transferred to the haystack itself. Compare Portuguese almeara, almeada, and almiare (“outdoor hay-shed”), found in Castilian-influenced dialects. They take the Spanish variant ameal, found in Cespedosa de Tormes, to reflect an archaic stage of the word, with the /a-/ taken from a preceding feminine definite article la; that may be why they posit a feminine Latin etymon, despite the gender of the Spanish word. Initial /a-/ turning to /al-/, whether under Arabic influence or otherwise, is not uncommon in Spanish; cf. Latin amygdala > Spanish almendra. Once ameal turned to *almeal, the final /-l/ could then dissimilate to /-r/, which would help explain the form almiar. On the other hand, Arabic الْمِيَر (al-miyar, “the provisions”, definite plural of مِيرَة (mīra)), if not simply the source of the Spanish word, can have at least influenced it.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈmjaɾ/ [alˈmjaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: al‧miar

Noun

almiar m (plural almiares)

1. large haystack kept in storage, often with a pole through its centre

References

• “almiar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1984) “almiar”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 191