austero

Forms

austero (feminine austera, masculine plural austeros, feminine plural austeras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin austērus (“sour, harsh; severe”), a learned word, and the Latin adjective was taken from Ancient Greek αὐστηρός (austērós, “harsh, bitter, rough”).^[2][3][1][4] Greek used the word for a harsh or bitter taste, as of water or dry wine, and for severe, unadorned style.^[5] It is related to αὖος (aûos, “dry”).^[5][1] Gómez de Silva traces it further to *saus- (“dry”).^[6]

The Latin adjective too meant first a sour or bitter taste, then severity and rigour.^[7][8] The same Latin word is French austère, Italian austero and Catalan auster.^[9][10] The noun austeridad is from the Latin derivative austēritās.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Spanish Textual Archive has the word first in a version of Lucas de Tuy's chronicle, the Crónica del Tudense, copied in Juan Fernández de Heredia's scriptorium in 1385–1396.^[12][13] Corominas's first date is 1555.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 still treated it as a Latinism that some people used, meaning a harsh, sour taste like that of unripe fruit, and by extension an ill-tempered, rigorous man.^[14] Autoridades in 1726 said the taste sense was used by physicians and apothecaries, and gave the figurative senses “rigid, unfriendly” and “mortified, penitent”, as in vida austera.^[15] The Academy kept the taste sense first until the 20th century.^[16] Today's dictionary puts first the sense “strict in morals”, then “sober, without excess”, and lists the taste sense third.^[2] Since the 19th century it has also been said of things: Gaspar y Roig gives costumbres austeras and aspecto austero.^[17]

In the Americas the word appears in 1636 in Potosí, in the taste sense, in a work on metals.^[18]

Timeline

• 1385–1396 – the Crónica del Tudense has the word.^[12]
• 1555 – the first date Corominas gives.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records it as a Latinism for a harsh taste and a harsh character.^[14]
• 1636 – first record from the Americas, in Potosí: sabor estíptico o austero.^[18]
• 1726 – Autoridades gives the taste sense and the senses “rigid” and “penitent”.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin austerus and Greek.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. severe, strictly keeping to moral rules: una maestra austera.^[2][19]
2. Sober (sobrio), austere, without excess or ornament: una casa austera, sin lujos.^[2][20]
3. Sour, astringent (astringente) and harsh to the taste.^[2][20]
4. Withdrawn, mortified and penitent (penitente).^[2][15]

Word family

• austeridad

Related words

• Latin austērus
• French austère
• Italian austero

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. austero
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. austero
4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. austero
5. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 555
10. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
11. ^ 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. austeridad
12. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
13. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
14. ^ 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. 1, 247
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 488
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 110
17. ^ 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, 280
18. ^ 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. austero
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. austero
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. austero