sierra

Pronunciation

• IPA: /siˈɛɹə/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish sierra (“jagged mountain range”), literally a saw,^[2][3][4] from Latin serra (“a saw”) (see serrate),^[2][3][5] which is of unknown origin;^[3] de Vaan suggests Proto-Indo-European *sers-h-, cutting off, and a link with Latin sarīre, to hoe.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A range of hills or mountains with jagged peaks, in Spain or Latin America: 1613, in Purchas his Pilgrimage, in Barnhart and the OED, the 1610s in Etymonline.^[2][6][3] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1600, the SOED to the mid-16th century.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

It figures in many names of mountain chains in Spain and in the regions Spain explored and colonized.^[3] In general use for any such range it is from 1807.^[6] In astronomy it was a name for the chromosphere of the sun (1851),^[6] and it is also the name of a Spanish mackerel.^[6][8] Sierra is the communications code word for the letter S.^[9][5]

Timeline

• 1613 – a Spanish mountain range.^[6]
• 1807 – any jagged range.^[6]
• 1851 – the chromosphere.^[6]
• 1952 – code word for S.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A rugged range of mountains with a jagged outline.
2. A Spanish mackerel of the Pacific coast of tropical America.
3. A code word for the letter S.

Word family

• sierran
• Sierra Leone
• Sierra Nevada

Related words

• serrated
• serration
• serrate

Usage notes

The American Heritage usage note advises that in formal contexts a range such as the Sierra Nevada is better called the Sierras than the Sierra Mountains, since mountains is inherent in sierra.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins