herreruelo

From older ferrehuelo, perhaps from Andalusian Arabic فرويل (occurring in an inventory constituted in the year 1161, Toledo; Coromines vocalizes it as fariwîl), folk-etymologized into herrero (“blacksmith”) +‎ -uelo (diminutive ending). Coromines appears confident in this interpretation of the Arabic word, though the usual sources on Andalusi Arabic do not mention it. He posits that the Andalusi term, in turn, derives from a 'vulgar' Maghrebi Arabic فريول (fəriyūl) later recorded in Rabat, Tanger and Tetouan as a cape used by certain sullied workers, itself from Latin palliolum (borrowed via African Romance).

Compare Italian ferraiolo (presumably calqued from Spanish), Sicilian firriolu, Maltese firjol.

herreruelo m (plural herreruelos)

1. (Spain) a type of short cape without a hood (capilla or capucha)
2. (Spain, obsolete, military) a type of Spanish cavalry used in the mid- to- late 16th century wearing a cuirass or corselet and armed with wheellock pistols and either a spear or javelins

• Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1984) “ferreruelo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), volume II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 882

• “herreruelo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28