Lorna O'Donoghue (asker) Aug 3, 2017:

Thanks for all the effort and input. I have asked the client for clarification on this one.

Robert Carter Aug 3, 2017:

Charles makes an important point about "hase" possibly meaning "hay". That makes a lot more sense than "hace".
Could it therefore be that the word is "queseritas" (diminutive of quesera)?

Charles Davis Aug 2, 2017:

I really don't know about this. Quintana's quotation, taken from a notarial document of 1667, does read "unas quesesitas":
http://jable.ulpgc.es/jable/cgi-bin/Pandora.exe?fn=commandse...

But I can't find evidence of "quesa" anywhere as an alternative to "queso". Your quotation on older Spanish, Marie, is referring to things like "la calor" for "el calor", not to morphological variants, though these do occur. Besides, the diminutive is normally "quesito", rather than "quesecito".

Of course, all sorts of irregularities occur in old documents, and I know from experience that notarial documents of this period are often very difficult to read, so it could be a misreading of "unos quesesitos". Then again it's possible that "quesecita" could be a little biscuit or pastry made from cheese. But I can't confirm that.

However, I don't think "little cheeses" fits the context very well. It's not that they didn't make cheese (they did), but you would expect it to mean a feature of the terrain, like cuebesita ("hase" means "hay", I think). I don't know what to suggest and would be inclined to leave it, with a note saying that the meaning is obscure.

Marie Wilson Aug 2, 2017:

Phil In the south where I live it's a diminutive for cheese. Little cheeses. Everything is given diminutive, doesn't necessarily mean small.

philgoddard Aug 2, 2017:

Marie I don't understand your comment. What are quesecitos? Cuevecita is a small cave.

Marie Wilson Aug 2, 2017:

I can only think of cheese. Quesecitos and cuevecita. I've seen that in old Spanish, "Daban indistintamente los dos géneros a muchos nombres que no tienen en nuestro tiempo más que uno solo." My understanding is that inside the property there is an area with a cave where cheese was made. Here's a reference to cheese and caves:
Muchos de los quesos se curan en lugares oscuros y húmedos, como cuevas, lo que unido a un pastoreo y forma de cuidar al animal tradicionales dan como resultado un producto especial, indicaron las fuentes.