dolç

Forms

dolç (feminine dolça, masculine plural dolços, feminine plural dolces)^[1] Northern texts wrote douç, often reduced to dós.^[2] The feminine dolça is found from Llull on, but aygua dolç, with the old form for both genders, lasted longer in the south, until St Vincent Ferrer about 1400.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dulcis (“sweet”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan doç, French doux, Italian dolce, Portuguese doce, Spanish dulce and Romanian dulce.^[6] The Latin adjective had one form for both genders, which Italian, Spanish and Galician-Portuguese keep;^[7] Occitan, French and Catalan gave it a feminine in -a, though Catalan was slower to do so.^[2] The /u/ of the Spanish word is not a sign of learned origin, according to Corominas, but a regular outcome before /l/ and a consonant.^[7]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *dulkwi- (“sweet”) and compares Ancient Greek γλυκύς (glukús, “sweet”).^[8] Wiktionary cites the traditional Proto-Indo-European *dl̥kús (“sweet”), but notes that the Latin and Greek forms are hard to reconcile and may be borrowed from a common source.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bruguera and the GDLC date the word to the Homilies d'Organyà, of the 12th century; the passage DECat quotes from them has the adverb: com nos apelà dolzament “how sweetly he called us”.^[4][5][2] Jaume I's chronicle already uses it for mild weather, ab aquell dolç temps que havíem “with the mild weather we had”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the word for the taste of sugar or honey, as in a medical treatise that lists dolz among the eight tastes, and for anything gentle, pleasant or kind.^[9] Water that is not salt is aigua dolça, and the place name L'Aiguadolç keeps the old form for both genders.^[2]

In the Pyrenees lard is greix dolç, unlike bacon; in the north-east the word means “soft, flexible”; in the Maestrat and Mallorca it is said of edible acorns and the oaks that bear them; and of iron that can be bent and hammered.^[2] The DCVB adds “lacking salt” and “sweet”, of wine.^[3] Escrig's Valencian dictionary of 1851 has the noun for confected fruit.^[10]

Dolçament is as old as the Homilies, dolçor is in Llull, and endolcir in Metge.^[4] Dolçaina, the Valencian shawm, is a separate borrowing from Old French douçaine, first recorded in Muntaner.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 12th century – the Homilies d'Organyà.^[5][4]
• 1244–1274 – Jaume I's chronicle: aquell dolç temps.^[2]
• 1272 – aygua dolç in the Costums de Tortosa.^[2]
• 1288–1289 – Llull's Llibre de meravelles, CICA's first text with the form dolç.^[11]
• 1367 – aygua dolç in a Valencian document, but aygua dossa in one from Roussillon.^[2]
• 1685 – first record of dolçainer.^[2][4]
• 1851 – Escrig records the noun.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sweet: tasting like sugar or honey: Aquests préssecs són dolços com la mel.^[5][3][1]
2. Not bitter, sour or salty: aigua dolça fresh water.^[5][3]
3. (of food) Lacking salt, bland.^[3][5]
4. (of wine) Containing sugar; sweet as opposed to dry.^[3][5]
5. (figurative) Gentle, pleasant, tender: un somriure dolç.^[5][9][12]
6. (of metal) Easily worked, soft.^[13][2]

Noun

1. A sweet: a dish or confection made with sugar or honey.^[3][10][14]

Word family

• dolçament
• dolçor
• dolcesa
• dolçàs
• dolcejar
• dolceta
• endolcir
• endolciment

Related words

• dolçaina
• dulcificar
• edulcorar
• Latin dulcis
• Occitan doç
• Spanish dulce

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 162
3. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. dolç
4. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 292
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. dolç
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2792
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 535
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. dolç
10. ^ a b c Escrig, José (1851), Diccionario valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. dolç
11. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. dolç
12. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. dolç
13. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. dolç
14. ^ Viccionari (Catalan Wiktionary), https://ca.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. dolç