‘Cinicabron’ and ‘zaguazo’, two ancient bionyms from the province of Seville (SW Spain)

Abstract

In this note, I report the existence of a rare zoonym and phytonym from southwestern Spain, ‘cinicabron’ and ‘zaguazo’ respectively, both being unknown and apparently exclusive to the province of Seville (western Andalusia). About ‘cinicabron’, which has been traditionally used to identify the wild wasp Megascolia maculata flavifrons (‘mammoth wasp’), I propose that it could be an ancient word derived from the contraction of the Latin locution ‘cinis crabro’ (‘ash wasp’). On the other hand, ‘zaguazo’ has been coined to describe several woody species typically inhabiting Mediterranean shrublands, belonging to the genus Cistus. This word represents an intermediate stage from the primitive Romandalusian ‘saqwas’ to the Castilian ‘jaguarzo’.