agudo

Forms

agudo (feminine aguda, masculine plural agudos, feminine plural agudas, superlative agudísimo)^[1] A variant acudo appears in the Fuero de Sobrarbe (1247–1271) and in old Aragonese.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish agudo, inherited from Latin acūtus (“sharp, pointed”), the past participle of acuō (“to sharpen”).^[4][1][5][6] The same word is Portuguese agudo, Catalan agut, Occitan agut, French aigu and Italian acuto.^[7][1]

De Vaan derives the participle and the verb from a Latin adjective stem meaning “sharp”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-u- (“pointed”).^[8] Gómez de Silva and Bénaben relate it to acus (“needle”), the source of aguja through a diminutive; de Vaan takes the word for “needle” as a separate formation on the same root.^[9][10][8]

The learned words of the same Latin family are acumen (1684), from acūmen (“sharp point”), and acutángulo (1709); acuidad is a recent borrowing from French acuité.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) uses agudo of the pointed spurs (verse 2737), and as a noun, el agudo, for the edge of a sword (verse 3661).^[11][12][5] A charter of the monastery of Oña of 1057 has a place name penna agudiella, “sharp little crag”, in a Latin text.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By the 13th and 14th centuries the adjective was used of a point or edge, of a high or piercing sound, of a sharp tongue, of a keen mind, of a sharp pain and of a strong-tasting wine.^[12] Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas (1254) speaks of sharp minds, witty sayings and acute pains.^[13] Its derivative agudeza is in Berceo.^[5]

Covarrubias (1611) applies the word first to cutting and piercing iron, then to a subtle mind, to keen sight like the eagle's, and to a restless person who rushes about;^[14] dar de agudo was to wound with words.^[14] Autoridades adds “biting, satirical”, of lampoons and jokes.^[15] Gaspar y Roig (1853–1855) record the acute accent and the ironic phrase agudo como punta de colchón, “as sharp as a mattress corner”, for a dull person.^[16] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 has the medical sense, a serious illness of short course.^[17] In phonetics a word stressed on its last syllable is aguda;^[4][18] Vox explains this as a comparison between what is sharp to the ear and what is sharp to the touch.^[4][18] In Leonese agudo also means “clever, quick” and is used as an adverb, “quickly”.^[19]

Timeline

• 1057 – the place name penna agudiella in a Latin charter of Oña.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses agudo of spurs and of a sword's edge.^[11][6]
• c. 1230 – Berceo calls a castle agudo “pointed, steep”.^[2]
• 1200–1250 – first record of agudeza.^[6]
• 1247–1271 – the variant acudo in the Fuero de Sobrarbe.^[2]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas uses it of minds, sayings and pains.^[13]
• 1572 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records aguda vista and dar de agudo.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy records the medical sense.^[17]
• 1914 – the derivative agudizar, still not accepted by the Academy in Corominas's time.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sharp, pointed, puntiagudo.^[4][1]
2. Subtle, perceptive: un lector agudo.^[4][1]
3. witty, lively and apt.^[4][1]
4. Of pain: sharp and piercing.^[4][1]
5. (medicine) Of an illness: acute, suddenly reaching great intensity.^[4][21]
6. Of a bodily sense: keen, highly developed: vista aguda.^[4]
7. Of a smell or taste: strong, intense.^[4]
8. Quick, swift.^[4]
9. Of a sound: high-pitched, of high frequency; also as a noun, los agudos “the treble”.^[4][1]
10. (geometry) Of an angle: acute, less than 90 degrees.^[22][1]
11. (phonetics) Of a word: stressed on the last syllable, like café; also as a noun.^[4][1]
12. (prosody) Of a line of verse: ending in such a word.^[4]

Word family

• agudeza
• agudizar
• agudamente
• puntiagudo

Related words

• aguzar
• aguja
• acumen
• acuidad
• Latin acūtus
• Portuguese agudo
• English acute

Usage notes

Set phrases include acento agudo “acute accent” and ángulo agudo “acute angle”.^[4][1] Agudo is also the name of a town in the province of Ciudad Real.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. agudo
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. acutus
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. agudo
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 83
6. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agudo
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 45
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. agudo
11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 21
12. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 18
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. agudo
14. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 81
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 129
16. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 65
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 34
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. agudo
19. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. agudo
20. ^ 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. acudo
21. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. agudo
22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agudo
23. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 2