Carl,
The word calidade is a Galician noun that means quality or grade. Galicia is an area of northwest Spain, next to Portugal, and the language is a kind of amalgam of northern Spanish and Portuguese (understanding that in those linguistic ecotones, the two are more like dialects. The comparably word in Spanish is calidad.
So the word can be used in contexts like "quality of life" (calidad de vida, in Spanish) or "industrial quality" (calidad industrial) In Spanish, the accent in the word is on the last syllable: cal-i-DAD.
Historically, the term was used for the castes (castas) in historic Spanish society: calidades. In that context, it retained its essential meaning of quality, so some calidades (castas) were of "higher" quality than others.
Don't know about the ". . . elhora" but it is likely an adjective for the noun calidade.
Buena suerta,
Jeff
Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Supervisory Archaeologist/Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
* mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504
* physical: 407 Galisteo Street, Suite B-100, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
* tel: 505.827.6387 fax: 505.827.3904
* e-mail: [log in to unmask]
"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." -L. P. Hartley, 1953
________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Carl Steen [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 12:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Spanish buttons
Hi All - It's 101 degrees here in South Carolina so I am catching up on labwork and writing. I have found a typical looking South Type 18 button- that's the one that is usually stamped "Treble Gilt" or something similar on the back. That is, a flat, plated button with a stamped back. This came from a 19th century site in the western part of the state. Only this one is stamped "...ELHORA CALIDADE" The Calidade part is clear, but I can't think of a word ending in "elhora". One or two letters are missing. Anybody else seen one of these? British buttons like this are usually from early 19th c. contexts. Do they last longer in Spanish contexts? People were heading out to Texas (and back) from here during the 1830s and 1840s, which might account for its presence, but no one I've talked to locally has ever seen one.
Carl Steen-
|