devesa

See also: devêsa

Asturian

Etymology

From Old Leonese devesa, from Late Latin [terra] dēfēnsa (“defended land”). Cognate with Galician devesa, Occitan devesa and Spanish dehesa.

Noun

devesa f (plural deveses)

1. a vast woodland, usually walled or fenced and shared between the locals, whose trees are not very densely packed, used to gather wood

Galician

FWOTD – 22 October 2013

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Late Latin [terra] dēfēnsa (“defended land”). Cognate with Portuguese, Occitan devesa and Spanish dehesa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [deˈβesɐ]

Noun

devesa f (plural devesas)

1. a vast woodland, usually walled or fenced, whose trees are not very densely packed
   • 1447, María C. Sánchez Carrera, editor, El Bajo Miño en el siglo XV. El espacio y los hombres, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 328:

     Iten enna Morgan hun pedaso de devesa acerca do camino publico segun que parte per hum marqo que esta ao pee de hun carvallo grande que sou [son] nove carvallos entre grandes et pequenos

     Item, in Morgan a piece of a devesa near the public way as it goes from a boundary stone at the feet of a large oak tree; and those are nine oak trees, large and small

   • 1948, Revista de Guimarães, volumes 58-60, page 303:

     Iba sempre a cabalo, pois tiña que andar máis de catro légoas por fragas, devesas e caborcos.

     He always rode a horse, for he had to travel over four leagues through isolated forests, sparse woods and gullies.

Derived terms

• Devesa
• Devesas
• Devesos
• Vilardevesa

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “deuesa”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “devesa”, 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), “devesa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “devesa”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Occitan

Etymology

From Late Latin dēfēnsa. Cognate with Spanish dehesa, Galician devesa, Portuguese devesa.

Noun

devesa m (plural devesas)

1. a (often fenced or walled in) parcel of land, usually used as a pasture, or for hunting
2. a section of uncultivated land

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• devêsa (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese devesa, from Late Latin [terra] dēfēnsa (“defended land”).

Cognate with Galician devesa and Spanish dehesa. Doublet of defesa and defensa.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /deˈve.zɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /deˈve.zɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /deˈve.za/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨˈve.zɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨˈve.zɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /dɨˈbe.zɐ/ [dɨˈβe.zɐ]

• Hyphenation: de‧ve‧sa

Noun

devesa f (plural devesas)

1. enclosure
2. pasture
3. grove or plantation of chestnut trees or oaks

Related terms

• defesa