tafur

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic تَكْفُور (takfūr, “Armenian king”), from Middle Armenian թագւոր (tʻagwor, “king”), from Old Armenian թագաւոր (tʻagawor, “king”), from Parthian *tag(a)-bar (“king”, literally “crown bearing”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [təˈfur]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) unknown
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [taˈfur]

Noun

tafur m (plural tafurs, feminine tafura, feminine plural tafures)

1. a gambler, especially one who gambles professionally

Synonyms

• (professional gambler): tafurer

Derived terms

• tafurejar
• tafurer

Further reading

• “tafur”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Old French

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Perhaps related to Arabic طفران, tafraan, meaning pauper, have-not.

Noun

tafur oblique singular, m (oblique plural tafurs, nominative singular tafurs, nominative plural tafur)

1. Saracen
2. rascal
3. beggar

References

• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “tafur”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.
• tafur on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• taful

Etymology

From Arabic تَكْفُور (takfūr, “Armenian king”), from Middle Armenian թագւոր (tʻagwor, “king”), from Old Armenian թագաւոր (tʻagawor, “king”), from Parthian *tag(a)-bar (“king”, literally “crown bearing”).

Cognate with Old Spanish tafur (Modern tahúr).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ta.ˈfuɾ/

Noun

tafur m

1. gambler
   • a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 154 (facsimile):

     Como un tafur tirou con hũa baeſta hũa seeta cõtra o ceo con ſanna p̈ q̇ pdera. p̃ q̃ cuidaua q̇ firia a deos o.ſ.M̃.

     How a gambler shot, with a crossbow, a bolt at the sky, wrathful because he had lost. Because he wanted it to wound God or Holy Mary.

Derived terms

• tafuraria

Descendants

• Galician: tafur
• Portuguese: taful