Garúa en Canarias y América

Abstract

The Diccionario de la Real Academia Española in its last edition of 1992 (DRAE-92) registers the word garúa 'drizzle' localized in America. It is true that the word is used in America. This is confirmed in the present article by consulting Spanish language dictionaries, general dictionaries of Americanisms as well as dictionaries and vocabularies from the various Latin American countries. However, on consulting the map for «Llovizna» in the Atlas Lingüístico y Etnográfico de las Islas Canarias (ALEICan) it becomes clear that the word is commonly used in the Canary Islands. Also, we have documented it with the help of vocabularies and other dialectal studies of Canarian Spanish. If the word is used in the Canary Islands, can it still be considered an Americanism? Or is it rather a Canarian dialectalism —originated in the Portuguese— that spread from the Islands to the New World?.