alarma

Forms

alarma f (plural alarmas)^[1]

Etymology

The DLE and Wiktionary take it as borrowed from Italian allarme, from the older Italian phrase all'arme (“to arms”).^[2][1] The Italian phrase is recorded before 1348 in Giovanni Villani, and the single word only in 1723.^[3][4] The TDHLE and Gómez de Silva derive the Spanish word directly from the war cry “to arms!”, made of al and arma (“weapon”), and Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that noun without naming Italian.^[5][6][7] Cuervo shows that in Cervantes's time Spanish soldiers still shouted the phrase as a cry.^[8]

The same expression gave French alarme, Catalan alarma and Occitan alarma.^[9][10] The Spanish noun is arma (“arms, weapons”), a neuter plural taken as a feminine singular in Late Latin.^[7][1] De Vaan traces the Latin word to Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-mo- (“fitting”).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in Mose Arragel's translation of the Bible (1422–1433), in a copy of the same period, where vos de alarma renders the public summons that a witness hears.^[12] The ordinary sense, a call to soldiers to take up arms, is in the chronicle of the Catholic Monarchs by Alonso de Santa Cruz, where the leaders hicieron dar alarma a la jente de guerra, and in Hernán Cortés's letters (1519–1526): ellos tocaron alarma, “they sounded the alarm”.^[12] Corominas dates the word from the Palmerín of 1548, and the DME from the 14th century.^[7][13]

Semantic evolution

For a long time the word was hardly more than the cry: Autoridades (1726) calls it a way of urging men to take up arms “that has almost become a noun”, and quotes tocaron al arma.^[14] The written forms al arma and alarma lived side by side; in Mexico the chroniclers of 1532 write dieron al arma.^[5][15] Mariana used it in 1601 for a sudden attack on the enemy, a sense the Academy kept from 1770 to 1884.^[5][16]

The sense “fear or unease caused by a sudden danger” is recorded in Bartolomé de las Casas, and the Academy added it in 1843.^[5][17] The gender wavered until the end of the 19th century: the Academy made the word feminine in 1770–1817, masculine in 1822–1884 and feminine again from 1899, and the feminine won in the 20th century.^[5] Cuervo argued for the masculine because the word began as a cry, while Icazbalceta noted that Mexico used it as a feminine in every sense.^[8][18] Modern dictionaries add the sense of a device that gives warning, such as a burglar alarm or the alarm of a clock.^[2][19]

Timeline

• 1422–1433 – vos de alarma in Mose Arragel's Bible translation.^[12]
• 1491–1516 – Alonso de Santa Cruz: hicieron dar alarma to the men at arms.^[12]
• 1532 – the first records from the Americas, in Mexico, as dieron al arma.^[15]
• 1548 – the Palmerín, the DCECH's first record.^[7]
• 1601 – Mariana uses alarmas for sudden attacks on the enemy.^[5]
• 1723 – the derived verb alarmar is first recorded.^[7]
• 1726 – Autoridades says the cry has almost become a noun.^[14]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the sense “sudden fright”, with the masculine gender.^[17][5]
• 1899 – the Academy makes the word feminine again.^[20][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A warning or signal given to an army or a garrison to prepare at once for defence or combat.^[2]
2. Any warning or signal of approaching danger: Desde la calle llegaban voces de alarma.^[2][1]
3. A device that gives warning of something: an alarm, a burglar alarm, an alarm clock.^[2][19]
4. (dated) A call to arms by bell, drum or beacon, gathering the people of a place against a danger (rebato).^[2]
5. Unease, fright or alarm caused by a sudden danger: La noticia causó alarma en el barrio.^[2][21]

Word family

• alarmar
• alarmismo
• alarmista
• alarmante

Related words

• arma
• rebato
• Italian allarme
• French alarme

Usage notes

Estado de alarma is the state of alarm, a legal state of emergency, and falsa alarma a false alarm.^[2][19] The old masculine el alarma is found in 19th-century writers such as Galdós's contemporaries, but the word is now feminine.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. alarma
3. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. allarme
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. allarme
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. alarma
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 49
7. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 337
8. ^ a b Cuervo, Rufino José (1914), Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano, 6th ed., París: A. & R. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 172
9. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1908–1914), Tesoro de la lengua castellana: origen y vida del lenguaje, 12 vols., Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. s.v. alarma
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 179
11. ^ 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 Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. alarma
13. ^ 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. 202
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 160
15. ^ 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. alarma
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 131
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 26
18. ^ García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. alarma
19. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. alarma
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 37
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. alarma