calma

Forms

calma f (plural calmas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin cauma (“heat”), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “burning heat, especially of the sun”), a derivative of καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).^[2][3][4][5] The word was first applied to the calms at sea that prevail in the hottest season, the dog days.^[2][6]

Where the shift of sense and of ⟨u⟩ to ⟨l⟩ first happened is disputed.^[2][7] Corominas thinks both changes were made first in the Iberian Peninsula and spread from there to the other modern languages; the old sense “heat, sultriness” is common in Catalan and Portuguese from their first records in the 15th century and still alive in León, Aragon and Catalonia.^[2] The DHLF also prefers an Iberian route for French calme, perhaps through Catalan, since the word is as old in Spanish as in Italian.^[8] The REW and Nocentini instead take Spanish ⟨calma⟩ from Italian calma, and Wiktionary allows either.^[9][7][1] Nocentini explains the ⟨l⟩ as a hypercorrect reversal of the common Romance change of /l/ to /u/ before a consonant;^[7][1] Wiktionary suggests the influence of Latin calor (“heat”).^[7][1]

The word is also Portuguese calma.^[9] Old Occitan cauma kept the sense “heat”.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the crusading lament ¡Ay, Iherusalem! (c. 1274): of the pilgrims at sea, Quando están en calma esflaquéçeles el alma “when they are becalmed their spirits fail”.^[10][11] The BDELC dates it to Juan Manuel (1320–1335), who writes that the sea is either calm or raging according to the wind: esta calma et esta braveza siempre acaesce en la mar.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija in 1495 gave calma de viento “stillness of the wind” and calma en la mar.^[13][14] Covarrubias in 1611 explained estar en calma as being unable to act, like a becalmed ship, and did not know the etymology, though some called it Hebrew.^[15] Autoridades still called it a nautical word, but added the stillness of the air on land, which brings heat, and the figurative “cessation, suspension”.^[16]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary added the figurative senses “peace, tranquillity” and the colloquial “sluggishness”, with calma chicha for a dead calm and for laziness.^[17] In Aragon calma still means sultry, windless heat.^[18] Derivatives include calmar (1431–1450) and the adjective calmo “windless, quiet”, classical in the 16th century and today American, which Corominas thinks spread from Iberia to French and Italian.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1274 – the lament ¡Ay, Iherusalem! has quando están en calma.^[10]
• 1326 – Juan Manuel's Libro del caballero y del escudero contrasts the sea's calm with its storms.^[10]
• 1320–1335 – the BDELC's first record.^[2]
• 1431–1450 – the verb calmar first recorded.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives calma de viento and calma en la mar.^[13]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias admits he does not know the etymology.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades suggests Greek kauma as the source.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology Late Latin cauma from Greek.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (meteorology) The state of the air when there is no wind; a calm.^[3][1]
2. A hot flush of the menopause.^[3]
3. A pause or let-up in something: Hubo un poco de calma en las ventas.^[3]
4. peace, tranquillity: Hay que mantener la calma.^[3][1]
5. (colloquial) Slowness, sluggishness.^[3]
6. (obsolete) Anguish, sorrow.^[3]
7. (Aragon) Sultry heat with completely still air.^[18]

Word family

• calmar
• calmaría
• calmoso
• recalmón
• calmo
• encalmarse

Related words

• cáustico
• French calme
• Italian calma

Usage notes

Calma chicha is a dead calm at sea and, colloquially, laziness; the sea is en calma when it has no waves.^[3] A separate adjective calma, of uncultivated or fallow land, is found from 1284 (tierra calma) and survives in Andalusia;^[10][20][21] García de Diego derives it from a word recorded in the 7th century and distinct from calma “stillness”.^[10][20][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. calma
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. calma
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. cauma
5. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. καῦμα
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. calma
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. calma
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. calme
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1779
10. ^ 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. calma
11. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. calma
12. ^ 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. 587
13. ^ a b 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. calma
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 308
15. ^ 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. 393
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 75
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 190
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. calma
19. ^ 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. calma
20. ^ a b Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 116
21. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. calma