ardor

Forms

ardor m (plural ardores)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ardor (“a burning, fire, heat; passion”)^[2][3][4][1], a noun formed on ārdeō (“to burn”).^[5][1] Spanish arder is the same verb.^[2]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese ardor, Galician ardor, Catalan ardor, French ardeur and Italian ardore.^[6][7] Nascentes calls the Portuguese word a learned one, and Wiktionary, after the TLFi, takes the Old French form as a borrowing from Latin.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas and the CDH give Berceo as the first record.^[2][9] In Del sacrificio de la misa (1228–1246, in an early 14th-century copy) the fire of the censer stands for the full fervour the priest must always have: el fuego figurava e el ardor plenero.^[9] In other early texts it is the heat of the sun and of summer: Berceo's Santo Domingo has the hermits suffer eladas e ardores “frosts and heats”, and Herman the German's Psalter, the earliest record not known from a later copy, el seco ardor de agosto “the dry heat of August”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses it for great heat, for brightness or glare, and for boldness.^[10] Nebrija defines it as unusual heat.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades separated outer heat, from the sun or fire, from inner heat, from the humours and the blood.^[12] It gave the figurative senses spirit, courage, liveliness, and the height of a fight, as in en el ardor de la batalla.^[12] The Academy's 1817 edition adds the sense “longing, yearning”.^[13] Gaspar y Roig (1853–1855) have a medical sense, a stinging or itching in illness, and a poetic one, amorous passion.^[14]

The DLE now has a burning sensation in part of the body and ardor de estómago “heartburn”.^[4] The derivative ardura “distress”, with a change of suffix, is as old as Berceo, and in Asturian ardor del agua is the phosphorescence of the sea.^[2]

Timeline

• 1228–1246 – Berceo, Del sacrificio de la misa (early 14th-century copy).^[9]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre uses it for the heat of the sun.^[9][15]
• c. 1240–1272 – Herman the German's Psalter: el seco ardor de agosto.^[9]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas for great heat.^[10]
• 1280 – the General Estoria for brightness and for boldness.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: Ardor calor estraño, Latin ardor.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the figurative senses and en el ardor de la batalla.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the sense “longing”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin ardor.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. Great heat: No había sombra contra el ardor del mediodía.^[4][17]
2. A burning feeling or flush in some part of the body;^[4][18] ardor de estómago “heartburn”.^[4][18]
3. Brightness, glow.^[4]
4. The kindling of feelings and passions; fervour, zeal: Defendió su idea con ardor.^[4][17][1]
5. Eagerness, longing.^[4][1]

Word family

• ardoroso

Related words

• arder
• ardiente
• enardecer
• ardura

Usage notes

The DLE has a second ardor “boldness, courage”, formed on ardido “bold”.^[4] The phrase en el ardor de la batalla (or de la disputa) means “in the heat of the battle (or argument)”.^[4][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 318
3. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arder
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ardor
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ardor
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ardor
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ardor
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ardor
9. ^ 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, p. s.v. ardor
10. ^ a b c 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. ardor
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 296
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 383
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 83
14. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 215
15. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ardor
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 94
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ardor
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ardor