agradable

Forms

agradable m or f (masculine and feminine plural agradables)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish agradar + -ble.^[1][2][3][4] The verb agradar (earlier gradar, in the Cid and Berceo) is formed from grado “will, pleasure”, which is from Late Latin grātum (“gratitude”), from grātus (“pleasing; grateful”).^[3][5] The learned word grato is from the same Latin adjective.^[4]

Parallel adjectives are Catalan agradable, Portuguese agradável, French agréable and Italian aggradevole.^[1] Portuguese had an older form agradábil, and agradable is recorded there in 1484.^[6][7] The French word is formed from agréer.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to 1241, in the Fuero Juzgo, with an early example in the Libro de Apolonio.^[3][5] The CDH has the Fuero Juzgo with the spelling agladable: con linpia fe & con agladable voluntad “with pure faith and a willing heart”.^[8] The plural agradables occurs in documents of Villamayor of 1243.^[9] In the Libro de Apolonio it describes a pleasant place to rest.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was said of things, places, seasons and feelings, and of what pleases God: Alfonso X's Libro de las formas (1279) lists a figure pora seer agradable a todos “to be pleasing to all”.^[8][11] A poem of about 1440 has agradable de mirar “pleasant to look at”, and the Celestina (1499) calls love una agradable llaga “a pleasant wound”.^[12] In the Americas the legal phrase de su libre y agradable voluntad “of their own free and willing choice” is recorded from 1564 in Yucatán.^[13]

Autoridades defined it as what gives pleasure to all with softness and sweetness, with Latin iucundus.^[14] Cuervo noted that it is said of physical and moral things, and of things and persons alike.^[15] The sense “affable”, of a person, is now the second sense in the dictionary, and an older sense “taking pleasure in doing something” is obsolete.^[16]

Timeline

• 1241 – first record, in the Fuero Juzgo.^[3][5]
• 1243 – the plural agradables in documents of Villamayor.^[9]
• 13th century – the Libro de Apolonio, which Alonso dates about 1240, uses it of a pleasant place.^[10]
• 1276–1279 – Alfonso X's Libro de las formas uses it of a person who pleases.^[11]
• 1499 – the Celestina calls love una agradable llaga.^[12]
• 1564 – first record in the Americas, in Yucatán.^[13]
• 1726 – Autoridades defines it with Latin iucundus.^[14]
• 1770 – the Academy defines it simply as “what pleases”.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. pleasant, agreeable: that gives pleasure or satisfaction: una tarde agradable en el jardín.^[16][1]
2. Of a person: affable, friendly to deal with: La nueva vecina es muy agradable.^[16][18]
3. (obsolete) Of a person: taking pleasure or delight in doing something.^[16]

Word family

• desagradable

Related words

• agradar
• agrado
• agradecer
• grado
• grato
• Latin grātus

Usage notes

It is construed with a, para or de: agradable al oído, agradable de ver.^[18][19] Its opposite is desagradable, first recorded in Lope de Vega.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 189
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3134
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grado
6. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. 146
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. agradável
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. agradable
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. agradable
10. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 172
11. ^ 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. agradable
12. ^ a b 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. agradable
13. ^ a b 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. agaradable
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 120
15. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 255
16. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. agradable
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 99
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agradable
19. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 56