ángulo

Forms

ángulo m (plural ángulos)^[1] Old Spanish also has anglo and angol.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin angulus (“angle, corner”).^[4][5][1][6] The same Alfonsine astronomical text also has the semi-popular form anglo, and Aragonese anglo is the Aragonese form.^[4][7] García de Diego notes that the popular outcomes in Spanish would have been forms like those in the place names ⟨Riaño⟩, ⟨Rianjo⟩ and ⟨Riancho⟩.^[7] The Latin word continues in Catalan angle, Occitan angle, French angle and Romanian unghi, and is Italian angolo.^[8][9][10]

De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic *angulos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eng-(e)lo- (“corner”), with cognates such as Old Church Slavonic ѫгълъ (ǫgŭlŭ, “corner”) and Old High German anchal (“ankle”).^[11][1] He notes that the root is suspiciously close to that of Latin ancus (“bent”), though neither can be regularly derived from the other.^[11] The DRAE and Moliner derive the Latin word from Ancient Greek ἀγκύλος (ankúlos, “crooked, curved”), which Wiktionary lists only as a cognate.^[6][12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the astronomical works of Alfonso X, about 1254–1260: ell angulo de .l. deste triangulo es derecho “the angle at L of this triangle is a right angle”.^[13][4] The TDHLE quotes the form ángol from the Alfonsine tables, dated 1252.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the geometric sense, medieval astrology used ángulo for the four celestial houses at the cardinal points, from Alfonso X's Libro de las Cruzes of 1259 to Torres Villarroel in 1724.^[2][14] Villena (c. 1417) and Lope de Vega (1609) use it for a side.^[2] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) called it a word of geometry, quoted it for the corner of a room, and listed dozens of compounds from geometry, optics, fortification and fencing.^[14] The modern dictionaries add the inside and outside corner and the figurative “point of view”.^[6][12]

Timeline

• 1254–1260 – Alfonso X's astronomical works use angulo in geometry.^[13]
• 1256–1276 – the DCECH's first record, in Alfonso X, beside the semi-popular anglo.^[4]
• 1259 – the Libro de las Cruzes uses ángulos del cielo in astrology.^[2]
• c. 1417 – Villena uses it for a side.^[2]
• c. 1440 – first record of triángulo.^[5]
• 1625 – first record from the Americas.^[15]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades calls it a word of geometry.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as the inclination of two lines that meet at a point.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) An angle, the figure formed by two lines starting from the same point, or by two planes starting from the same line.^[6][1]
2. A corner on the inside, where two walls meet.^[6][12]
3. An outside corner or edge.^[6][12]
4. A steel bar of angle section.^[12]
5. A point of view, an angle from which something is considered: desde otro ángulo.^[6][12]

Word family

• angular
• anguloso
• angulado

Related words

• triángulo
• rectángulo
• equiángulo
• inglete
• Latin angulus
• Italian angolo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. ángulo
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ángulo
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 273
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ángulo
6. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. ángulo
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 528
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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. 1, 315
11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ángulo
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. ángulo
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 294
15. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ángulo
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 74