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centella

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word centella

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1200 La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin scintilla
Ultimate origin
Latin scintilla
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin scintilla
Spanish centella
Italian scintilla
From the same root
English tinsel ← scintilla
Latin scintillō ← scintilla

Pronunciation

  • /θenˈteʝa/, [θẽn̪ˈt̪e.ʝa], /θenˈteʎa/[1]

Forms

centella f (plural centellas)[1] Old forms include çentella and the Aragonese centeylla;[2][3][4] centalla is found once, in 1572.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin scintilla (“spark”).[4][5][6][1] Corominas notes that outside Spanish the Latin word lived on as a popular word only in French étincelle and in Sardinian dialects; Romanian scânteie is phonetically difficult, Portuguese centelha was taken from Spanish, and Catalan centella may not be a native development.[4] In his Catalan dictionary he points to the older Old Catalan centilla and to the more popular Catalan words for “spark”.[7] The Spanish word passed into Basque ixindar.[4]

De Vaan reports the old connection of the Latin word with Proto-Indo-European *skeH(i)- (“to shine”), but says that its stem cannot be explained, and asks whether it is somehow connected with scindō (“to split”).[8] Wiktionary derives it from *ski-nto-.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, dated about 1200 and known from a 13th-century copy, where the hair of a vision is cuemo centellas de fuego “like sparks of fire”.[3][2] The sense is “spark”.[3] Corominas's first record is the Calila e Dimna of 1251.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In medieval texts the word meant a spark from fire or struck from iron, and around 1400 a Latin–Spanish glossary used it for “ember”.[9][10] The sense “flash of lightning” is recorded in the 15th century, in the Cancionero de Baena.[9] Covarrubias in 1611 used it figuratively for a small occasion from which great harm can grow, and gave it a fanciful Hebrew origin.[11] The Autoridades of 1729 described lightning at length, and the remnant of a passion as a figurative sense.[12] The Academy's 1817 edition put “lightning” first, and in thieves' slang the word meant “sword”, as Hidalgo had recorded in 1609.[13][14]

Today centella is also used for anything very fast, especially in comparisons.[6][15] Regional senses include a disease of wheat in Aragon, a poisonous meadow plant in Salamanca, and the buttercup in Chile.[6] In 1574 Monardes described an American herb called centella used against swellings, and in Puerto Rico a very mischievous child is a centella.[16][17]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has centellas de fuego.[3][2]
  • c. 1250 – the Aragonese Vidal Mayor has centeylla.[3]
  • 1251 – the Calila e Dimna, Corominas's first record.[4][5]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin scintilla.[18][19]
  • 1513 – the verb centellear is recorded in Gabriel Alonso de Herrera.[4]
  • 1574 – Monardes names an American medicinal herb centella.[16]
  • 1609 – Hidalgo records the slang sense “sword”.[14]
  • 1729 – the Autoridades defines the spark and the lightning flash.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flash of lightning (rayo), especially a weak one.[6][1]
  2. A spark: a burning particle thrown off by fire or by flint struck with steel.[6][1]
  3. A very fast person or thing, mostly in comparisons: Salió del aula como una centella.[6][15]
  4. (Aragon) A disease of wheat that dries the ear before the grain forms.[6]
  5. (Salamanca) A poisonous plant that grows in hollows.[6][20]
  6. (Chile) The ranúnculo (buttercup).[6][17]
  7. (dated) A remnant of a strong feeling or of a quarrel.[6]

Word family

  • centellear

Usage notes

The phrase ¡rayos y centellas! expresses anger.[20] Hierba centella is the marsh marigold.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. centella
  3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. centella
  4. ^ 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. 2, 33
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. centella
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. centella
  7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 667
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ 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. 672
  10. ^ 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. centella
  11. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 581
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 269
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 194
  14. ^ a b Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 167
  15. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. centella
  16. ^ a b Grupo IATEXT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, AMERLEX: corpus of americanisms in early texts on the Americas (online database), p. s.v. centella
  17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. centella
  18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 323
  19. ^ 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. centella
  20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. centella

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Centella.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/centella. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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