coobra

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *colŏbra, altered from Classical Latin colubra, feminine counterpart to coluber (“snake”), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ko.ˈɔ.bɾa/

Noun

coobra f

1. snake
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 368 (facsimile):

     [C]omo nos ſṫa M(aria) do poꝛto guariu ũa moller dũa coobꝛa que tragia eno uentre e auie ben tres años

     (H)ow Holy Mary of the port cured a woman of a snake she had in her belly for three years.

   • c. 1350, Kelvin M. Parker, editor, Historia Troyana, page 90:

     Et a coobra estouo queda, et aseyto a pasariña, et aspero a, et abreu a boca hũ pouco.

     And the snake stood still, and lurked on the bird, and waited for it, and opened his mouth just a bit

Descendants

• Galician: cobra
• Portuguese: cobra (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “coobra”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “coobra”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG