The Spanish word cubeta has meanings that include ‘bucket, cask’ and ‘tray,’ particularly the kind of ‘ice tray’ found in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator and the kinds of trays used to hold chemicals. Cubeta is a diminutive of the cuba ‘tub, barrel, vat’ that had changed little from the Latin cūpa that likewise meant ‘tub, cask.’ Whether cūpa generated the Late Latin cuppa that Spanish has turned into copa and English into cup is possible but not universally accepted. What isn’t in doubt is that Spanish cubeta has as its cognate the French cuvette that English borrowed in the sense of ‘a tube or vessel used in laboratory experiments.’ Another diminutive tracing back to Latin cūpa is the dome-shaped cúpula/cupola that sits atop some buildings.
© 2019 Steven Schwartzman
Spanish-English Word Connections 
Feb 02, 2019 @ 07:15:01
I have a friend in Charleston, South Carolina who’s given to referring to a cup of coffee or tea with the same word I see used in some British blogs and fiction: ‘cuppa.’ It could be a lazy way of saying ‘cup of,’ but I don’t think it is, particularly since the word stands alone and isn’t followed by ‘coffee’ or ‘tea.’ It was interesting to see the relationship between ‘cup’ and late Latin cuppa, however that word made it into their speech.
Feb 02, 2019 @ 07:49:34
I’ve always taken English cuppa to be a spelling of the informal pronunciation of cup of in the same way that sorta, kinda, and lotta represent sort of, kind of, and lot of. I checked a buncha dictionaries just now and all the ones that gave an etymology concurred, as for example https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=cuppa. Cuppa does seem to be predominantly British, as you said.
Feb 02, 2019 @ 07:51:57
Now that I think of it, that probably explains my South Carolina friend’s use of the term. She’s a true Anglophile, and can’t get enough of British lit and British television. She’s quite a fan of Wodehouse, too — who no doubt has used ‘cuppa’ a time or two.
Feb 02, 2019 @ 07:57:29
Bingo. At http://www.oed.com/page/pgwodehouse/P.G.+Wodehouse+in+the+OED I found this: “The works of P.G. Wodehouse provide the first evidence for 23 entries in the OED, including fifty-fifty (1913), cuppa (1925), and right-ho (1936), as well as more than 135 meanings, or senses, of other words.”
Feb 02, 2019 @ 07:59:13
How about that!
Feb 02, 2019 @ 08:08:23
Also relevant because of my background, Wodehouse died on Long Island.
Apr 19, 2020 @ 18:15:24
I would suggest that we Brits would only be referring to a ‘cup of tea’ when we say ‘cuppa’. So cuppa coffee is just not right, it’s only a cuppa or cuppa tea.
Apr 19, 2020 @ 20:36:06
Thanks for your British viewpoint on that.
Feb 10, 2019 @ 07:27:31
Las ‘cubetas’ de hielo are now slowly becoming obsolete, because of in-door ice makers of modern refrigerators. Some smaller fridges still don’t have the ice maker option, and I prefer those because it’s something less to worry about.
Feb 10, 2019 @ 07:54:52
That’s for sure: the more complicated a device gets, the more things there are that can break.