Etymology

tapas

tap·as
T1A1P3A1S1

Today it means: A variety of Spanish small savoury food items or snacks such as croquettes, cured meat, potato salad, and seafood, originally served with sherry and now often with other alcoholic beverages as well. Full definition →

Spanish tapas ← Gothic *𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰 ← Proto-Germanic *tappô
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

tapas · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*deh₂p-“to lose; to sacrifice”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*tappô“plug; tap”
  3. Gothic · derived from*𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰
  4. Spanish · borrowed fromtapas
  5. English todaytapas

From Spanish tapas, the plural of tapa (“appetizer, tapa; cap, lid (cover of a container)”) (from the fact that plates of tapas were originally placed on the tops of glasses of alcoholic beverages as lids), from Gothic *𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰 (*tappa), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug; tap”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tap.

tapas · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*tep-“to be warm or hot”
  2. Sanskrit · derived fromतप्“heat; to be hot”
  3. English todaytapas

From Sanskrit तप् (tap, “heat; to be hot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tep- (“to be warm or hot”). Related to tepid.

tapas · noun3

From tapa + -s.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*tappô all →

tamponZapftampion

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.