angélico

Forms

angélico (feminine angélica, masculine plural angélicos, feminine plural angélicas)^[1] Old forms include angéligo and anjélico;^[1] Angéligo is recorded at Sahagún in León in 1079.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin angelicus (“angelic”), from Ancient Greek ἀγγελικός (angelikós).^[3][1][4] The Greek adjective is formed from ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger”) with the suffix -ικός (-ikós).^[1] In Greek it first meant “of or for a messenger”; the sense “angelic” appears in late Neoplatonists such as Proclus.^[5] In Latin it is “belonging to angels” in the Vulgate.^[6] Seen from Spanish, it is ángel with the suffix -ico.^[1]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese angélico, Catalan angèlic, Italian angelico and French angélique.^[7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the word from Berceo.^[4] Alonso's first example is from Berceo's Vida de San Millán (c. 1235): Cosa fue angélica de bendición complido “it was an angelic thing, full of blessing”.^[10] The DEMel also lists the Libro de Alexandre (before 1230 to about 1250) among the first records.^[11] In Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa (c. 1237) it means spiritual, opposed to carnal: torne cosa angélica la que carnal nació “let what was born carnal become an angelic thing”.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the adjective meant belonging to the angels, and so heavenly or more than human.^[10][2] In Berceo's Milagros a chasuble sewn without a needle is obra … angélica, non de omme texida “angels' work, not woven by man”.^[2] Hernando del Pulgar (c. 1484) speaks of a liberty más angélica que humana.^[10] The Academy defined it from 1817 simply as angelical, a synonym formed in Spanish.^[12][13] Barcia cites a distinction: angélico is what belongs to the nature of angels, angelical what resembles them, so coros angélicos but rostro angelical.^[14] The earliest example from the Americas is from Santo Domingo in 1548: angélico ha de ser el gobernador que a todos contentare “a governor who pleases everyone must be an angel”.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1235 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán has cosa … angélica.^[10]
• c. 1237 – Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa opposes angélica to carnal.^[2]
• first half of the 13th century – Corominas's date for the adjective.^[16]
• c. 1484 – Pulgar's chronicle speaks of a liberty more angelic than human.^[10]
• 1548 – first record in the Americas, at Santo Domingo.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as angelical.^[12]
• 1899 – the Academy first gives the etymology, from Latin angelicus.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to angels (ángel); having the nature of an angel: los coros angélicos.^[3][18][14]
2. angelic, angelical: like an angel in beauty, innocence or goodness.^[3][19][1]

Related words

• ángel
• angelical
• evangélico
• Latin angelicus

Usage notes

The feminine angélica is also a noun: the plant angelica, an aromatic herb of the umbellifer family used in pharmacy, and a purgative drink made with manna.^[3][19] The 15th-century angelico, stressed on the i, is a different form, a diminutive of ángel meaning a simple, innocent person, as in the Celestina (1499).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. angélico
3. ^ a b c d 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. angélico
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 269
5. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 329
8. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. 251
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. angèlic
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 308
11. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. angélico
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 65
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 52
14. ^ a b Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 318
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. angélico
16. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ángel
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 67
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. angélico
19. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 71