The Gypsy loanwords included in Catauros by Fernando Ortiz and the stories they tell

Authors

  • Ivo Buzek Masaryk University

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to focus on mutual relations between various aspects of monolingual dictionaries that can be witnesses of history of vocabulary, a genre of pedagogical discourse or a symbol of national sovereignty. We will exemplify the study on the case of Gypsy loanwords testified in the two editions of the Catauro by Fernando Ortiz (1923, 1985), paying attention to changes suffered in their macrostructure as well as in the microstructure in both editions. We sustain that these lexicographic data could reflect the history of the Cuban Spanish vocabulary in the 20th century as well as the contemporary Cuban history in general and they could mirror the evolution of the Cuban identity.

Keywords:

Cuban Spanish, Gypsy loanwords, historical lexicology and lexicography, history and identity