regueifa

Galician

Woman carring a regueifa on her head

Etymology

12th century in Latin documents. From Arabic رَغَائِف (raḡāʔif), plural of رَغِيفَة (raḡīfa, “loaf”), colloquial variant of رَغِيف (raḡīf, “loaf”). Cognate with Portuguese regueifa and Spanish regaifa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /reˈɣejfa̝/

Noun

regueifa m (plural regueifas)

1. traditional wedding cake
2. improvisation contest (initially held for gaining the cake)
3. (dated) large loaf of wheat bread
   • 1389, M. Romaní Martínez (ed.), La colección diplomática de Santa María de Oseira (1025-1310). Santiago: Tórculo Edicións, page 408:

     cada dia de natal darnos edes huna boa regueyfa de trigo et duas boas galynas

     each Christmas day you'll give to us a good loaf of wheat and two good hens

   • 1707, Salvador Francisco Roel, Entremés ao real e feliz parto da nosa raíña:

     Christobo:
     Eu cortarey o molete.
     Cathalina:
     Tomà vos essa rigeyfa,
     porque tamen e pantrigo.

     Christobo:
     "I'll cut the muffin"
     Cathalina:
     "Take that loaf,
     because it is also wheat bread"

Derived terms

• regueifeiro

References

• “regueifa” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “regueifa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “regueifa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “regueifa”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Andalusian Arabic [Term?], from Arabic رَغِيفَة (raḡīfa, “loaf”), colloquial variant of رَغِيف (raḡīf, “loaf”). Cognate with Galician regueifa and Spanish regaifa.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʁeˈɡej.fɐ/ [heˈɡeɪ̯.fɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʁeˈɡej.fɐ/ [heˈɡeɪ̯.fɐ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ʁeˈɡej.fɐ/ [χeˈɡeɪ̯.fɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʁeˈɡej.fa/ [heˈɡeɪ̯.fa]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʁɨˈɡɐj.fɐ/ [ʁɨˈɣɐj.fɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʁɨˈɡɐj.fɐ/ [ʁɨˈɣɐj.fɐ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʁɨˈɡej.fɐ/ [ʁɨˈɣej.fɐ]
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʁɨˈɡej.fɐ/ [ʁɨˈɣej.fɐ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʁɨˈɡe.fɐ/ [ʁɨˈɣe.fɐ]

• Hyphenation: re‧guei‧fa

Noun

regueifa f (plural regueifas)

1. a pastry of fine flour, kolach