[hoh-tuh; Spanish haw-tah]
- a Spanish dance in triple meter, performed by a couple and marked by complex rhythms executed with the heels and castanets.
- the music for this dance.
Origin of jota
1840–50; < Spanish, probably Old Spanish sota dance, derivative of sotar to dance < Latin saltāre
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for jota
Outside of Andalusia, the most famous dance is the Aragonese jota.Things seen in Spain
C. Gasquoine Hartley
The jota that evening appeared to be a very sedate kind of dance.
Presently he was playing a jota and demanded that somebody should dance.
The jota is the most common of Spanish dances, as the waltz used to be with us.
The jota has a beat which is partly the beat of the bar, partly that of the phrase.
- a Spanish dance with castanets in fast triple time, usually to a guitar and voice accompaniment
Spanish, probably modification of Old Spanish sota, from sotar to dance, from Latin saltāre
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for jota
Spanish folk dance; by 1846, of uncertain etymology.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper