cantina

(Sp. model spelled same [kantína] < Italian cantina 'wine cellar, wine shop')

   1) Watts: 1875. In the Southwest, especially Texas, a saloon or tavern; a Mexican wineshop.

   2) According to Watts, "a pocket of a mochila." Blevins notes that the Pony Express used mochilas with pockets, or cantinas, to carry mail.

   3) Southwest: 1844. A saddlebag or other container hung from the saddle. Blevins references cantina as "a leather box packed by a mule."

   Alternate form: cantiness.

   4) Watts: 1942. A receptacle used to heat liquids; a coffeepot. This definition is similar to the English canteen, a tin or wooden container used to hold water or liquor used by travelers, soldiers, or workmen. It is unknown whether this meaning derives from Spanish or whether the Spanish term has been extended to be synonymous with canteen. The DRAE gives several definitions for cantina, among them a shop where liquor and other provisions are sold; a box made of wood, metal, or cork and covered with leather and divided into various compartments for carrying food; and (especially in Mexico) two squarish leather bags with lids that are hung from either side of a saddletree, similar to the more antiquated alforjas. They are used for carrying foodstuffs. Islas and Santamaría concur with the definitions in the DRAE, with a few exceptions. Islas indicates that the bags may be round or square, they hang from the cantle rather than the saddletree, and they are used to carry all sorts of provisions for the rider, not just food. He also mentions that the term is generally used in the plural. Santamaría notes that the cantinas have replaced the older alforjas, árganas (wicker baskets used as packsad-dles), and cojinillos (another name for saddlebags, these were generally bags or small wicker baskets). Cobos states that in New Mexico and Colorado a cantina can be either a bar or tavern or a large wallet or leather box. None of the Spanish sources consulted concurred with senses (2) and (4). Perhaps (2) is an extension of (3), and (4) did not come from Spanish but was later used as an alternate term for the English canteen.