asqueroso

Forms

asqueroso (feminine asquerosa, masculine plural asquerosos, feminine plural asquerosas)^[1] Old Spanish had ascoroso and ascroso beside asqueroso.^[2][1] Nebrija still writes ascoroso.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *escharōsus (“full of scabs”), from Late Latin eschara (“scab”), which Latin took from Ancient Greek ἐσχάρα (eskhára, “hearth; scab from a burn”).^[3][4][1][5] Corominas follows Meyer-Lübke and considers the derivation certain.^[3] Latin also had escharōticus (“producing a scab”).^[3] Because of its foreign look, the Latin noun was altered in Vulgar Latin to ascara and ascra, and the metathesis behind the Spanish form may already be Latin.^[3] Similar adjectives are Old French ascreus (“repugnant”) and similar forms in northern Italian dialects.^[3]

The noun asco “disgust” has a separate source: Corominas takes it from Old Spanish usgo, reshaped after the adjective; the DLE instead derives the noun from the adjective.^[3][4][6]

Beekes finds no Indo-European cognates for the Greek word and considers it of Pre-Greek origin.^[7][1] The Greek sense “scab” is medical, from Hippocrates on.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the form ascoroso in the Libro dels tres reys d'Orient (verse 173), about 1200, and ascroso or ascoroso in a 14th-century Dominican rule.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) gives three senses: dirty and stinking, causing disgust; one who feels disgust easily; and, figuratively, a man despicable for his conduct; it also records the proverb asqueroso os habéis tornado, pues ya comisteis de este guisado, said of those who scorn what they once were.^[9] Salvá (1846) adds the sense “foul-mouthed”.^[10] Domínguez (1846) objected that the Academy's sense “who feels disgust” made the cleanest people asquerosos.^[11] The DLE keeps that sense only for Spain, and today the word is common as an insult.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – ascoroso in the Libro dels tres reys d'Orient.^[3][4]
• 14th century – ascroso and ascoroso in a Dominican rule.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes ascoroso.^[3]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “loathsome”.^[14]
• 1592 – first records in the Americas, in a Mexico City medical book.^[15]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives three senses and a proverb.^[9]
• 1886 – Cuervo collects classical quotations for “causing disgust”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. disgusting, repulsive: causing physical or moral revulsion; as a noun, used as an insult: Había un olor asqueroso en el sótano.^[12][1]
2. (colloquial) Very dirty.^[13]
3. (Spain) Easily disgusted, fussy about food.^[12][13]

Word family

• asquerosidad

Related words

• asco
• escara
• Ancient Greek ἐσχάρα (eskhára)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 737
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 371
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. asco
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 93
6. ^ 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. asco
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 437
10. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 113
11. ^ 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. 192
12. ^ a b c 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. asqueroso
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. asqueroso
14. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 71
15. ^ 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. asqueroso
16. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 727