azorafa

Old Spanish

Alternative forms

• azoraba, zarafa, zaraffa

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian زُرْنَا (zurnā)

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā)bor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)der.

Old Spanish azorafa

Borrowed from Andalusian Arabic, from Arabic الزُّرَافَة (az-zurāfa).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ad͡zoˈɾafa/
• Rhymes: -afa
• Hyphenation: a‧zo‧ra‧fa

Noun

azorafa f (plural azorafas)

1. giraffe
   • 1489 March 20, Fernán Sánchez de Tovar, chapter IX, in CRONICA DE Loſ Reyes Don Alfonso el X: D.ⁿ Sancho el Bravo: D. Fernando el IV. y D Alfonso el XI, page 12v, column 2:

     E otroſi traxieꝛõle vn maꝛfyl ⁊ vna anjmalia q̃ dezjã azoꝛafa […]

     [E otrosi traxieronle un marfil e una animalia que dezian azorafa […] ]

     And, moreover, they brought him a [piece of] ivory and a beast they called “giraffe”.

2. (chess) the giraffe piece in Grant Acedrex
   • 1283, Alfonso X of Castile, Juegos diversos de Axedreʒ, dados, y tablas cõ sus explicaçones [Various chess, dice, and board games, with their instructions], page 82r, column 1:

     E la ʒaraffa es meioꝛ q̃ el peon.

     [E la zarafa es mejor que el peon.]

     And the giraffe is better than the pawn.

Descendants

• Spanish: azorafa (obsolete)

References

• “azorafa”, in Vocabulario de comercio medieval [Vocabulary of medieval commerce] (in Spanish), Murcia: University of Murcia, 2013–2024
• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “jirafa”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[1] (in Spanish), volume III (G–Ma), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 521

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-der.?

Classical Persian زُرْنَا (zurnā)

Proto-Indo-European *ped-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds

Proto-Indo-Iranian *pā́ts

Proto-Iranian *pā́dah

Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎭 (p-a-d)

Classical Persian پَا (pā)

Classical Persian زُرْنَاپَا (zurnāpā)bor.

Classical Syriac ܙܪܝܦܐ (zārīp̄ā)bor.

Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa)der.

Old Spanish azorafa

Spanish azorafa

Inherited from Old Spanish azorafa, from Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa), via Andalusian Arabic, doublet of jirafa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aθoˈɾafa/ [a.θoˈɾa.fa] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /asoˈɾafa/ [a.soˈɾa.fa] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -afa
• Syllabification: a‧zo‧ra‧fa

Noun

azorafa f (plural azorafas)

1. (obsolete) giraffe

   Synonym: jirafa

References

• Diccionario de la lengua castellana (volume 1), 1770, p. 419
• Diccionario de la lengua castellana (volume 10), 1852, p. 81

Further reading

• “azorafa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “azorafa”, in Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española [Thesaurus of the Historical Dictionaries of the Spanish Language], Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], launched 2021