Càvec

What is

Hoe with a wide blade at the back and narrow at the front, trapezoidal or triangular in shape. It is used for digging (DCVB). Variants: càvet, càvic. In the Sineu workshop it is written càveg and it is sold as a construction tool.

How is

• Steel iron blade, trapezoidal or triangular, with ull for the handle.
• Long wooden handle (measurements: to be verified).
• Heavier than the aixada : it works by weight and blow.

How is fa

• Ferrer's forge. See ferro forjat .
• It is manufactured today by Eines Mallorquines (Sineu) (construction warehouse).

Com s'usa

• Dig soil, open holes and foundations, mix mortar.
• Llull already puts it as a gesture in the pagès: "every time the peasant wounded the earth with his cavec" (Blanquerna, paraphrase).

Vocabulary

• càvec / càvet / càvic / càveg — hoe.
• ull — be careful where the handle enters.
• càvec (fig., Mall.) — very rustic person: «if nothing is more than a càvec!» (DCVB).
• càvec (Mall.) — also a fish: the Raja marginata ray (DCVB).

History

• 13th century: cited in the Usatges and in Llull (Blanquerna).
• 14th century: inventories distinguish "càvec de cavar sotill" and "de solcar".
• 1926 today: it continues to be forged in Sineu.

On veure'n

• Museum of Mallorca, ethnological section (Wall) .
• Eines Mallorquines Workshop (Sineu).

Why is it design

• Form by function: wide at the back for weight, narrow at the front to enter the ground.
• Bridge tool between field and construction site: the same tool for garden and mortar.
• Repairable in the forge.

For the project

• Together with the aixada, visual sheet “dig family” with Eines Mallorquines.
• Word with a social charge (càvec = rustic): theme for a piece about contempt for the pagès.

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=c%E0vec
• einesmallorquines.com

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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