aturdir

Forms

aturdir (first-person singular present aturdo, first-person singular preterite aturdí, past participle aturdido)^[1] Old Spanish atordir was the usual form until the 16th century; beside it Berceo and Juan Ruiz used estordir, and Díaz de Gámez, Cervantes de Salazar and Cervantes used atordecer.^[2] The spelling atordir is still found in the Americas in 1539–1579 (New Granada, Mexico).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish atordir, which Corominas, the BDELC and Wiktionary explain as formed from Old Spanish a- + tordo (“thrush”) + -ir.^[2][4][1] Corominas notes that the thrush gorges itself on olives and grapes and is then thought to lose its head, whence a phrase for being scatterbrained, literally “to have a thrush's head”, and that the Italian bird name tordo also means an inexperienced fool.^[2] Wiktionary instead points to the likeness between the thrush's flight and the confused movements of someone stunned.^[1]

The same formation is Catalan estordir or atordir, French étourdir and Italian stordire, which match the Old Spanish variant estordir.^[2][5] The French verb is traced to Vulgar Latin *exturdīre “to act foolishly”, an allusion to the thrush drunk on grapes.^[6][7] The bird's name continues Latin turdus (“thrush”),^[8] which goes back to Proto-Italic *torzdo- and Proto-Indo-European *(s)tr(o)sdho- (“thrush”), the source also of дрозд (drozd).^[9][1]

The Academy's DLE derives the verb instead from the homonymous adjective meaning “dull, stupid”, which it takes from Latin torpidus (“numb, sluggish”).^[10][8] García de Diego also files it under that Latin word, citing the dialect sense “dull, foolish” of the same adjective in Álava and Cantabria and turdo “foolish”.^[11] Corominas rejects this Latin source as phonetically impossible and unlikely on every count.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Berceo's Poema de Santa Oria (c. 1252–1257, known from a 14th-century copy), where the saint, overwhelmed by her welcome in heaven, estava atordida, en grant desarramiento “was dazed, in great confusion”.^[12][2][13] The DEMel also gives Berceo's poem as its first record.^[14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the participle atordido describes knights knocked senseless in combat, as in El caballero del cisne and the Cuento de don Tristán de Leonís.^[12] Alonso quotes the Gran Conquista de Ultramar (c. 1295) for the sense “stun with a blow”.^[15] The noun aturdimiento is recorded from 1604.^[4]

Covarrubias in 1611 already wrote aturdir, “to deprive of one's senses with a blow or some other accident”, and explained it by the thrush, which he said faints and falls to the ground in the midday heat of summer.^[16] The Diccionario de Autoridades added deafening noise as a cause and noted that the older form had been atordir.^[17] The Academy's 1770 edition added a figurative sense, “to cause great astonishment”, quoting Quevedo.^[18] Its 1899 edition tentatively proposed Latin ad and trudere “to push” as the source, while Alemany in 1917 derived the verb from a- and Latin turdus.^[19][20]

Today the DLE gives “to cause aturdimiento” and “to confuse, disconcert, amaze”, both also reflexive.^[10] Moliner adds the reflexive sense of numbing oneself on purpose with amusements or frantic activity to forget a sorrow.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1252–1257 – Berceo's Poema de Santa Oria has atordida (in a 14th-century copy).^[12][2]
• c. 1295 – the Gran Conquista de Ultramar uses the verb for stunning with a blow.^[15]
• 1431–1450 – Díaz de Gámez uses the variant atordecer.^[2]
• 1539 – the first record from the Americas, in New Granada: caí en tierra atordido “I fell to the ground stunned”.^[3]
• 1604 – first record of the noun aturdimiento.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the word by the weak-headed thrush.^[16]
• 1669 – a text from Lima has the modern form aturdidos.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that the older form was atordir.^[17]
• 1770 – the Academy adds the figurative sense “to astonish”.^[18]
• 1899 – the Academy proposes Latin ad and trudere as the etymology, with a question mark.^[19]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stun or daze: to leave someone briefly unable to think or act normally, as a blow or a strong shock does; also reflexive: La caída lo dejó aturdido un buen rato.^[10][21][1]
2. To bewilder, disconcert or amaze; also reflexive.^[10][21]
3. (reflexive) To numb oneself deliberately with distractions or constant activity so as to forget a sorrow.^[21]

Word family

• aturdimiento

Related words

• tordo
• Latin turdus
• French étourdir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 408
3. ^ a b c 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. atordir
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. aturdir
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. aturdir
8. ^ a b 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. tordo
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. aturdir
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. aturdir
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
13. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 73
14. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. aturdir
15. ^ 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. 446
16. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 242
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 482
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 392
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 109
20. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 196
21. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. aturdir