Attested since the 13th century. FromOld Galician-Portuguese, fromLate Latincuprum(“copper”), fromLatin (aes)Cyprium (“Cypriot copper” becauseCyprus was its chief source), fromAncient GreekΚύπρος(Kúpros), fromκυπάρισσος(kupárissos,“cypress”), probably from an unknown Mediterranean Pre-Greek language; compareHebrewגפר(gopher), the name of the tree whose wood was used to make the ark (Genesis, 6:14).
1281, Clarinda de Azevedo Maia (ed.),História do galego-português. Estado linguístico da Galiza e do Noroeste de Portugal do século XII ao século XVI (com referência á situação do galego moderno). Coimbra: I.N.I.C., page 133:
Dou a mia arameña τ o morteyro decobre a Santa Maria de Monte de Ramo para a capella.
I bequeath my bowl and thecopper mortar to St. Mary of Montederramo, for the chapel
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cobre”, inCorpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela:Instituto da Lingua Galega
Inherited fromLate Latincuprum(“copper”), fromLatincyprium (aes)(“Cypriot copper”), fromAncient GreekΚύπρος(Kúpros), becauseCyprus was its chief source. The irregular evolution of this term in Spanish and other Ibero-Romance languages likePortuguesecobre (with the expected result being*cobro) has been suggested to perhaps be due to some influence fromCatalancoure, although this is uncertain because of the discrepancy between the internal consonants and the unusual idea of just altering the final consonants due to foreign influence. More likely, it may have been informally influenced byalambre[1] (olderarambre), originally meaning bronze in Old Spanish.
