almendra

Forms

almendra f (plural almendras)^[1] Old and dialect forms include almenda (13th century), alméndola (13th–15th centuries), Navarrese armendra (15th century), Mexican anmendra (16th century), Aragonese amella and armella, and almenra in Ecuador and Bolivia.^[2] The Mozarabic forms amedlla, amédola and amíndole are recorded from the 12th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish almendra, inherited from Vulgar Latin *amyndŭla, a variant of Latin amygdala (“almond”), which is from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”).^[3][4][5][1] Latin texts record forms close to the one Spanish requires: amiddola in the Appendix Probi, amigdola in glosses, amyndala in the Tironian notes and amandula in Oribasius.^[3] According to Niedermann, quoted by Corominas, the ⟨n⟩ must already have arisen in Greek, since the Russian word cannot come from Latin.^[3] Corominas rules out a base with post-tonic ⟨a⟩, as Meyer-Lübke admitted, because Spanish would have kept that vowel; in Vulgar Latin the word was adapted to the treatment of short vowels in open syllables.^[3]

The ⟨l⟩ of the first syllable is due to imitation of the many words taken from Arabic with the article al-, such as almidón, almena, almeja and almirante.^[3][6] The same Latin word is Portuguese amêndoa, Galician améndoa, Aragonese almendola, Catalan ametlla, Old Occitan amenla, French amande and Italian mandorla.^[7][3][8][1] Catalan and the south and east of Spain have forms without the secondary ⟨n⟩, such as amédola.^[3] Catalan amenla is recorded in 1249, and the local Latin amindula already in 1034, as a place name.^[9]

Beekes considers the Greek word a typical Pre-Greek substrate word, because of the alternation of -γδ- with -σγ- in variants such as ἀμυσγέλα (amusgéla) of Cyrene.^[10] Wiktionary also reports Blažek's proposal of a Semitic origin.^[1] The learned doublet of the word is amígdala, recorded in 1537 and named after the almond shape of the gland.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Castilian record is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in the story of Aaron's rod: floreçio el blago de Aaron e levo almendras “Aaron's rod blossomed and bore almonds”.^[11][12] Corominas and the Tentative Dictionary give Berceo as the first record, where almendra is one of the names of the Virgin.^[3][13] The BDELC dates the word to the first half of the 13th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Thirteenth-century texts use the word for the fruit as food and merchandise: in 1250 the Moamín prescribes salted pork fat “the size of an almond” for hawks, and a charter of 1271 lists almonds with oil, figs and raisins among the goods of Murcia.^[11] Alfonso X's General Estoria explains the place name Luz as meaning almendra, and says the fruit of Aaron's rod was almonds.^[11][14] The tree, almendro, is recorded from about 1400.^[4][3]

Covarrubias in 1611 warned that the al- might lead one to think the word Arabic, while it is in fact Greek.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades described the fruit, sweet or bitter, and noted that in Andalusia and Murcia it was called alloza.^[16] The Academy's 1884 edition gave the etymology “Del lat. amygdala” and figurative senses for an almond-shaped diamond and similar pieces.^[17]

The modern dictionary adds almond-shaped pieces of cut glass hung on chandeliers, an ornament of Romanesque architecture and, jocularly, a pebble.^[5] In colloquial Spanish of Spain the word can mean the head.^[1] In Colombia it also names an almond-filled sweet.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – a Mozarabic botanical glossary has amedllas.^[12][2]
• 1200–1250 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has almendras (in a 13th-century copy).^[11][12]
• 1246–1252 – Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora names the Virgin almendra.^[11][13]
• 1249 – Catalan amenla is first recorded.^[9]
• 1271 – a charter lists almonds among the goods of Murcia.^[11]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses the word for the fruit of Aaron's rod.^[14]
• 1397 – Aragonese inventories have alméndola, again in 1488.^[3]
• c. 1400 – first record of the tree name almendro.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin amygdalum as its equivalent.^[19]
• 1537 – first record of the learned doublet amígdala.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias argues that the word is Greek, not Arabic.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin amygdala.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. almond: the fruit of the almendro, a drupe with a woody stone; also this fruit without its outer layers.^[5][1]
2. The edible seed of the almond; the seed or kernel of any drupe.^[5][1]
3. An almond-shaped piece of glass, metal or gemstone, especially a cut-glass drop hung on chandeliers.^[5]
4. (architecture) An almond-shaped moulding typical of Romanesque art.^[5]
5. (jocular) A small stone or pebble.^[5]
6. (Spain, colloquial) The head, especially a big one.^[1]
7. (Colombia) A sweet filled with almond.^[18]

Word family

• almendro
• almendruco
• almendrilla
• almendrate
• almendrado
• almendrar

Related words

• amígdala
• Latin amygdala
• Portuguese amêndoa
• Catalan ametlla

Usage notes

In Andalusia and Murcia the Diccionario de Autoridades recorded alloza for the almond.^[16] Compounds include leche de almendra “almond milk” and harina de almendra “almond flour”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. almendra
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 191
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. almendra
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. almendra
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. almendra
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. almendra
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b 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, 278
10. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
12. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. almendra
13. ^ 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. 28
14. ^ 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. almendra
15. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 143
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 228
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. 56
18. ^ 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. almendra
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 290