armadura

Forms

armadura f (plural armaduras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish armadura, inherited from Latin armātūra (“armament, armour”).^[2][1][3] The /t/ of the Latin word, between vowels, was voiced to /d/.^[1] The Tentative Dictionary, DICCA-XV and the Spanish Wiktionary take it instead as a Spanish derivative of armar, under which Corominas lists it.^[4][5][6][7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese armadura, Catalan armadura, Occitan armadura, Italian armatura and the inherited French armure; armature is a later learned borrowing.^[8][3][1] Romanian armătură came first from Polish.^[8]

This noun is formed from Latin armō (“to arm”) + -tūra, from arma (“arms, weapons”).^[9][1] De Vaan derives the plural noun from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-mo- (“fitting”), related to Ancient Greek ἀραρίσκω (ararískō, “to fit together”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Libro de los doce sabios (c. 1237, in a copy of about 1400), where armadura is figurative: Lealtança es fermosa armadura “loyalty is a beautiful armour”.^[11][12] The Aragonese Vidal Mayor of about 1250, the first hit without a later copy, also uses it figuratively, of toda la armadura del non saber “all the armour of ignorance”.^[11] The Fuero Juzgo (c. 1250–1260) uses the plural for traps set for animals.^[11] Corominas dates the word from the early 14th century, in Juan Manuel.^[7][13]

Semantic evolution

In medieval texts the word is mostly plural, for the iron armour knights wore.^[4][14] Autoridades in 1726 has the defensive arms worn in battle, the skeleton of an animal, and the poles that are screwed together to make a bed.^[15] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 gives the frame on which something is built, such as a roof or a bed, and marks the sense “trap” as old.^[16]

The Academy added the iron ring that strengthens the well of a ship's propeller in 1869 and the conductors of an electric condenser in 1899;^[17][18][19] Alemany in 1917 adds the soft-iron pieces that keep a magnet's force.^[17][18][19] Domínguez in 1846 lists the kinds of roof framework, such as the armadura de dos aguas.^[20]

In Cuba the word names the frame of spectacles, and in Puerto Rico the spurs of fighting cocks and the planking of a boat.^[21] In Argentina it meant the preparing of the lasso for throwing.^[22]

Timeline

• c. 1237 – armadura in the Libro de los doce sabios, known from a copy of about 1400.^[11]
• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor and the Fuero Juzgo.^[11]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses the plural for soldiers' armour.^[23]
• 1335 – Juan Manuel's Conde Lucanor.^[4][7]
• 1515 – first records from the Americas, in Puerto Rico and Tierra Firme.^[24]
• 1726 – Autoridades records the senses “skeleton” and “bed frame”.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary adds the nautical sense.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary adds the electrical sense.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. armour: the set of defensive pieces that warriors wore.^[2][1]
2. A framework (armazón): a piece or set of joined pieces that holds something up: la armadura de unas gafas.^[2][25]
3. A skeleton (esqueleto).^[2][1]
4. (architecture) The timber or iron frame that supports the roof of a building.^[2]
5. (electricity) Each of the conducting plates of a capacitor, separated by an insulator.^[2]
6. (electricity) The iron piece that closes the magnetic circuit of an electromagnet.^[2]
7. (nautical) A metal ring that strengthens a joint, especially of the sternpost and the propeller well.^[2]
8. (rare) Antlers, horns.^[2]

Related words

• arma
• armar
• armazón
• armadijo
• Latin armātūra
• French armure

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. armadura
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 701
4. ^ a b c Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 49
5. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. armadura
6. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 337
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. armātūra
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. armadura
12. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. armadura
13. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arma
14. ^ 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. 378
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 393
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 86
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 69
18. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 89
19. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 166
20. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 171
21. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. armadura
22. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 133
23. ^ 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. armadura
24. ^ 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. armadura
25. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. armadura