Etymology
Linguists agree that the term zafra entered Spanish from Arabic, but there is some disagreement about the precise origins of the term. Some believe it comes from zāfar or zafariya 'harvest time', while others believe the term derives from saʼifah 'gathering time'. In Spain, the term referred to harvests that took place in September and October and was especially often used to describe the harvest of sugar cane, a crop whose production was brought from Arab lands.
Read more about this topic: Zafra (agriculture)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)