esbillar – to pick out – seleccionar

[is]

esbillar: pronounced es-bee-YAHR, verbu (verb). The noun form is esbilla or, in County Ayer, erbicha. To choose in preference to others, select the best. To pick out carefully and fastidiously. Synonyms at choose, cull, pick out, single out, sort out.

Originally, the verb denotes the action of peeling the husks away from corn, also known as esfoyar (from the word for leaf in Asturian: fueya). To see what an esfoyaza is like click on this utube link to the fall harvest festival in La Puela (Pola de Allande) earlier this month (November 2007):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQVtmMr3rkA

An esbilla is used nowadays to denote a selection or cull of the best stock of grains, beans, films, magazines, electronics, melodies, etc. It implies the top choice in a selection.

Usage examples:
Esbilla.net ye un sitiu con noticies asturianes que se manda d’un control editorial non xerarquicu. [Esbilla.net is a web site with Asturian news without a hierarchical editorial control.]
Equi ta la esbilla d’autores asturianos de Reciella Malory. [Here is the top list of Asturian writers that are part of Reciella Malory.]
Toi d’alcuerdu con que cualisquier blogueru puea esbillar daque que camiente ye d’interes. [I am all for allowing bloggers to make a selection of points they think would be of interest.]
A mi ponienme na cocina a esbillar arbeyos. [In the kitchen, I was tasked with sorting out the peas.] (Courtesy of Terechu)

Folk wisdom:
La esbilla se va acabando, la xente se va durmiendo, les castanes de la cuna ya pueden venir viniendo. [The esbilla is coming to an end, the people are falling asleep, the chestnuts from the ‘cuna’ can now march back in.]

[Bob]

The transition from "ll" to "ch" or "l.l" (che vaqueiro) is a standard shift, but I'm curious about the change from "s" to "r" in esbilla --> erbicha in western Asturian - any insights?

"Blogueru" is an interesting neologism. One effect of the internet, for good or for ill, seems to be an increase in the speed with which, and the extent to which, one language influuences another. This would make an interestng study in linguistic evolution. Web log > blog > blogger > blogueru.

[is]

We need a linguistics buff to answer that one, Bob. I'm familiar with the shift from 'l' to 'r', but not from 's' to 'r'. The online Asturian dictionary lists County Ayer as a place where that shift takes place from esbillar to erbichar.

As far as I know, it is not a West Asturian word, as we in Counties like Ayande, Tineu and Cangas/Narcea use the verb esbirar in the sense of separating whey from milk: esbirei'l l.leite [l.leite means milk]. Maybe Carlos can look into this...

[Carlos]

Bob y Paul, aunque lo normal y más frecuente es la conservación de ese tipo de S, a veces aparecen otros resultados de aspecto más "anómalo". Por ejemplo:

desván - derván (Casu)
La Mesmalina - La Mermalina (Miranda)
Buslaz - Burlaz (Villaviciosa)
*Busganzos --> Burganzos (Teberga)

Y un ejemplo al contrario: sorpresa - sospresa.

(Xosé Lluis García Arias, "Gramática Histórica de la Lengua Asturiana", 2003, pág. 186)

Saludos

[Bob]

Gracias, Carlos.