toalla

Asturian

toalla f (plural toalles)

Attested since the 13th century. Either from Old French toaille (“towel”), from Proto-West Germanic *þwahilu (“towel”), or directly from Gothic.^[1]

toalla m (plural toallas)

towel
(archaic) tablecloth
- 1438, X. Ferro Couselo, editor, A vida e a fala dos devanceiros, Vigo: Galaxia, page 172:
  sete mantas brancas de cama e tres mesas de mantées e dous de lata e outros alesmaniscos e un par de toallas
  seven white blankets for the bed, three tables of tablecloth (?), two [made] of boards and another two German ones, and a pair of towels

Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “toalla”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “toal”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “toalla”, 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), “toalla”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “toalla”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “toalla”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

A borrowing from another Romance language which displaced the older tobaja, ultimately from Frankish *þwahilu.^[1]

IPA^(key): /toˈaʝa/ [t̪oˈa.ʝa] (most of Spain and Latin America)
IPA^(key): /toˈaʎa/ [t̪oˈa.ʎa] (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
IPA^(key): /toˈaʃa/ [t̪oˈa.ʃa] (Buenos Aires and environs)
IPA^(key): /toˈaʒa/ [t̪oˈa.ʒa] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

toalla f (plural toallas)

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “toalla”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos