albino

Forms

albino (feminine albina, masculine plural albinos, feminine plural albinas)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish albo + -ino.^[2][1][3] The DRAE of 2001 and Moliner derive it instead from Medieval Latin albinus, and Autoridades already called it a purely Latin word.^[4][5][6] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of albo, with a first record in Cervantes de Salazar.^[7][8]

That adjective, meaning “white”, is a learned form of Latin albus (“white”), whose popular outcome survives only in place names.^[7] De Vaan traces the Latin adjective to Proto-Italic *alfo- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰ-o- (“white”), with cognates in Umbrian and Greek.^[9]

According to Corominas, Portuguese albino, French albinos (1763) and Italian albino (1819) come from the Spanish word.^[7] The English word albino, first recorded in 1777, is from Spanish or Portuguese.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TDHLE's first quotation is from Cervantes de Salazar's Crónica de la Nueva España (1560–1567): Moctezuma's aviary had rooms where hombres, mujeres y niños albinos were kept, “white of eyes and hair from birth, as in Spain”.^[3] Corominas dates the word about 1570.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In 1609 Bartolomé de Argensola describes very fair and blond people among the dark inhabitants of the Moluccas, who are blinded by the sun, and says that en España los llamamos albiños “in Spain we call them albinos”.^[3][6] Autoridades (1726) defined the word by the whiteness of hair and skin and the weak sight; from 1770 to 1869 the Academy defined it as a very fair child born of black parents, and added the colour of animals with white hair on reddish or white skin.^[3][11][12] In 1884 it gave the modern biological definition, the congenital lack of pigment, and extended the word to plants.^[13]

In colonial Mexico albino was also a caste name, for the child of a morisco and a Spaniard.^[2][14] In Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Chile it describes a white animal with blue eyes.^[15]

Timeline

• 1560–1567 – the albinos of Moctezuma's aviary in Cervantes de Salazar's Crónica de la Nueva España.^[3]
• c. 1570 – the date in Corominas.^[8]
• 1609 – Argensola writes en España los llamamos albiños.^[3]
• 1726 – Autoridades calls it a purely Latin word.^[6]
• 1763 – the French word albinos, from Spanish.^[7]
• 1777 – the English word albino.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's modern definition, with the etymology from albo.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. albino: of a living being, congenitally lacking pigment, so that its skin, hair, eyes, feathers or flowers are whiter than usual for its kind: un ciervo albino.^[2][1][16]
2. (historical, colonial America) Born of a morisco and a Spaniard.^[2][14]
3. (Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Chile) Of an animal, white with blue eyes.^[15]

Noun

1. An albino person or animal.^[2][1]

Word family

• albinismo

Related words

• albo
• alba
• albor
• blanco
• Latin albus

Usage notes

The DLE also lists a feminine noun albina, a lagoon formed by seawater on low land near the shore, and the salt left in it.^[2] Corominas records it in Nebrija and explains the name by the white salt that covered it.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. albino
3. ^ 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. albino
4. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. albino
5. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. albino
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 169
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, 118
8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. albo
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 139
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 29
13. ^ 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. 43
14. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 75
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. albino
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. albino