andurrial

Spanish

FWOTD – 25 February 2015

Etymology

Unknown. Proposed etymologies include:

• From Andalusian Arabic [Term?].
• From Basque andur (“contemptible”).
• From andar (“to walk”).

First attested c. 1464-1474 (see quotations).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /anduˈrjal/ [ãn̪.d̪uˈrjal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: an‧du‧rrial

Noun

andurrial m (plural andurriales)

1. (usually in the plural) the bush (remote, undeveloped area); the backcountry; the sticks; the middle of nowhere
   • c. 1464-1474, Coplas de Mingo Revulgo, Spain:

     andase tras los zagales
     por esos alla andurriales
     todo el dia enbebeçido
     holgazando sin sentido
     q[ue] non cura de n[uest]ros males.

     He wandered among the swains
     through the sticks over there
     drunk all day
     lazing around aimlessly
     not curing our ailments.

   • 1615, Miguel de Cervantes, “Capítulo II”, in El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, Segunda parte:

     Idos a la vuestra, hermano, que vos sois, y no otro, el que destrae y sonsaca a mi señor, y le lleva por esos andurriales.

     Be off to your own, brother, for it is you, and no one else, that delude my master, and lead him astray, and take him tramping about the country.

Further reading

• “andurrial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025