celoso

Forms

celoso (feminine celosa, masculine plural celosos, feminine plural celosas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote çeloso beside celoso.^[2] The Autoridades spelt it zeloso (1739), and zeloso and seloso also occur in Mexico and Peru around 1600.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin zēlōsus (“zealous; jealous”), as the DLE, the REW, García de Diego and Wiktionary give it.^[5][6][7][1] The BDELC lists it among the derivatives of celo, a learned borrowing of the Latin noun.^[8]

The Latin adjective was formed from zēlus (“zeal; jealousy”) and -ōsus.^[1][9] The noun was taken from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, emulation, jealousy”).^[1][9] The DLE and the BDELC derive the Greek noun from ζέω (zéō, “to boil”).^[10][8] Wiktionary instead connects it with Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- (“to go, search”).^[1]

The same Latin adjective is Italian geloso, French jaloux, Catalan gelós, Portuguese zeloso and cioso.^[6][7][1] The French form is held to come from Old Occitan gelos.^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates celoso to 1220–1250; the DEMel's first primary record is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (1200–1250).^[8][2] In Alfonso X's Lapidario a stone powder given in wine “to one who is jealous” helps him, al que es celoso, and the Tentative Dictionary hesitates between “jealous” and “fervent” in Berceo's Milagros.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

The sense “jealous” is found from the 13th to the 15th century, and “zealous, careful of something” from the 15th: in the Corbacho (1438) some are muy celosos e guardianes de lo suyo “very careful and protective of their own”.^[14] Covarrubias and Nebrija equated it with Latin zelotypus.^[15][16] The 1739 Autoridades has it of one who shows jealousy in watchfulness and care.^[3]

The Academy added a nautical sense in 1843, of a small boat that is very light, later of a boat that heels easily and carries little sail.^[17][18] Alemany recorded in 1917 the Chilean use for a firearm that goes off easily, or a balance or trap that works at the slightest touch; today this is used in several Latin American countries, and in Bolivia celoso also means ticklish.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[2]
• 1220–1250 – first record according to the BDELC.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses celoso “jealous”.^[12]
• 1438 – the Corbacho, the sense “zealous”.^[14]
• 1587 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[4]
• 1739 – the Autoridades enters it as zeloso.^[3]
• 1843 – the nautical sense in the Academy's dictionary.^[17]
• 1917 – Alemany records the Chilean sense of firearms.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. jealous: feeling jealousy, especially of a loved one: Se puso celoso al verla bailar con otro.^[5][1]
2. zealous: showing keen and active care for something or someone: Es muy celosa de su trabajo.^[5][1]
3. (nautical) Of a boat: carrying little sail because it lacks stability.^[5]
4. (Latin America) Of a mechanism, firearm or trap: set off by the slightest touch.^[5][19]
5. (Bolivia) Ticklish.^[19]

Word family

• celosía

Related words

• celar
• celo
• celos
• celotipia
• Italian geloso
• French jaloux

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. celoso
3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 567
4. ^ 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. celoso
5. ^ a b c d e 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. celoso
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9613
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7379
8. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. celo
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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. celo
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. jaloux
12. ^ a b 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. celoso
13. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 109
14. ^ 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. 668
15. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 574
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 323
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 156
18. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 363
19. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. celoso