amoroso

Forms

amoroso (feminine amorosa, masculine plural amorosos, feminine plural amorosas)^[1]

Etymology

The TDHLE analyses it as formed in Spanish, from Spanish amor + -oso.^[2] Wiktionary and García de Diego take it instead from Vulgar Latin *amōrōsus, from amor (“love”).^[1][3] The Medieval Latin word is attested only from the 13th century and was itself borrowed from the Romance languages.^[1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of amar and dates it to the 13th century.^[4]

The same word is Portuguese amoroso, Galician amoroso, Catalan amorós, French amoureux and Italian amoroso.^[1] The Latin noun is formed from amō (“to love”) with the suffix -or.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TDHLE's earliest quotation is from the Libro de Alexandre (c. 1240–1250, manuscript O of the 14th century), where la torrontés amorosa, bona pora'l lagar is a pleasant grape for the wine press; the sense is “sweet, agreeable to the senses”.^[2] In Alfonso X's Judizios (1254) a man born under a good sign is auenido & amoroso alos omnes “friendly and loving towards people”.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Juan Ruiz already speaks of gestos amorosos “loving looks”.^[7][8] Nebrija in 1495 renders it with Latin benivolus and comis “kindly, courteous”, and the Academy's first dictionary defines it as affectionate and pleasant.^[9][10] The Academy of 1770 adds the senses “soft” of materials and “mild” of weather, and in 1884 it marked them as figurative.^[11][12]

The sense “soft, smooth” survives in regional speech: in the Canaries fresh bread is amorosito, and in León the word describes soft ground, mild damp weather and straw wet with dew.^[13][14] In 1591 a Mexican text calls cacao blanda, lenitiva y amorosa.^[15] In several South American countries and the Dominican Republic it is used of a person who is likeable or charming.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre (in a 14th-century manuscript) calls a grape amorosa.^[2]
• 1250 – the date Segura Munguía gives for the word.^[17]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas uses it of a loving person.^[6]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz writes of gestos amorosos.^[7][2]
• 1495 – Nebrija's equivalents are benivolus and comis.^[9][8]
• 1544 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as affectionate and pleasant.^[10]
• 1770 – the Academy adds the senses “soft” and “mild”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Feeling love; loving: una abuela muy amorosa con sus nietos.^[18][1]
2. Of or relating to love; amorous: poesía amorosa.^[18][1]
3. Showing or expressing love; tender.^[18][1]
4. Soft, smooth; of soil or wood, easy to work.^[18][19]
5. Of weather, mild and pleasant.^[18][19]
6. (Dominican Republic, South America) Of a person, likeable, endearing.^[16]

Word family

• amorosamente

Related words

• amar
• amorío
• enamorar
• Latin amor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. amoroso
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. amorosus
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 232
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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. amoroso
7. ^ 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. 35
8. ^ 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. 295
9. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 292
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 274
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 229
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 68
13. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. amoroso
14. ^ 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. amoroso
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. amoroso
16. ^ 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. amoroso
17. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 39
18. ^ a b c d e 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. amoroso
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amoroso