chocolate

Forms

chocolate m (plural chocolates)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl chocolātl, a word of Aztec origin whose formation is uncertain.^[2][3][1] Loewe and Friederici, whom Corominas follows, conclude that it cannot be analysed except for its ending, ātl (“water, drink”), which forms the names of many drinks.^[2][4] Corominas points out that the word is missing from the old Nahuatl dictionaries such as Molina's and is still felt by Mexican speakers to be a foreign word, so he regards it as a form shaped by the Spaniards.^[2]

The oldest description, by Francisco Hernández, says that the Mexicans made the drink of equal parts of cacao and of the seed of the ceiba, pochotl.^[2][3] Corominas therefore proposes a compound pocho-cacaua-atl (“drink of ceiba and cacao”), shortened by the Spaniards and perhaps reshaped after the names of other Mexican drinks such as chilatl (“chili drink”) and pinolatl (“pinole drink”).^[3][2] Gómez de Silva and Bénaben mention this explanation as a possibility.^[5][6]

The Academy's dictionary, the DHLE and the DAMER compare instead xocoatl, from xococ (“sour, bitter”) and the same ending “water”, an explanation Robelo gave.^{[7][8][9][10]} Corominas rejects it because the /ʃ/ of ⟨x⟩ is not confused with the /tʃ/ of ⟨ch⟩ in Spanish loans from Nahuatl.^[2] Santamaría derived the first part from a Mayan word for “hot”, which Corominas could not find in the Maya dictionary he consulted.^[11][2] Monlau's derivation from supposed Nahuatl words for “cacao” and “water” was rejected by Lenz, who notes that they do not exist.^[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Francisco Hernández wrote the Nahuatl name as chocollatl about 1580, in Latin.^[2] The first record of the Spanish word is in a document from Mexico of 1581: el cacao … se gasta para el chocolate y aun es el que sirve de moneda corriente “cacao is used up for chocolate, and is even what serves as current money”.^[14][8] The sense there is the drink made from a paste of roasted cacao seeds mixed with water, sometimes with spices, honey or maize flour.^[8] In 1590 José de Acosta described the drink and its froth, saying it was prized beyond reason in New Spain and disgusted those not used to it.^[15][8]

Semantic evolution

In 1591 Juan de Cárdenas discussed whether drinking chocolate broke the fast.^[8] The first dictionary to list the word was Vittori's of 1609.^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a drink of cacao, sugar and cinnamon beaten with the molinillo and drunk hot or iced, and traced it to an Indian word chocollat.^[16] Terreros wrote that the first chocolate came to Europe from the province of Chiapa.^[17] The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century gave both the paste and the drink; the 1884 edition derived it from Mexican chocolatl.^[18][19]

From Spanish the word spread to the other European languages, as cioccolatte by 1606 and chocolat from 1643.^[2] English had it about 1600, from Mexican Spanish.^[20] Wiktionary lists among its descendants xocolata, txokolate, chocolade and tsokolate.^[1]

In Spain chocolate is colloquial for hashish.^[7][21] In Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay it is popular for blood, especially from a nosebleed, and Lenz recorded sacar chocolate a uno for bloodying someone's nose; in Mexico the adjective means “illegal”.^[9][13] In colonial Cuba it meant a shady deal or embezzlement.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1580 – Francisco Hernández writes chocollatl in Latin.^[2]
• 1581 – first record of the Spanish word, in a document from Mexico.^[14][8]
• 1583 – a record from Guatemala.^[8][14]
• 1590 – José de Acosta's Historia natural y moral de las Indias; the DCECH's first record of the Spanish form.^[15][2]
• 1591 – Juan de Cárdenas discusses whether chocolate breaks the fast.^[8]
• c. 1600 – English chocolate, from Mexican Spanish.^[20]
• 1606 – Italian cioccolatte.^[2]
• 1609 – first dictionary record, in Vittori's Tesoro de las tres lenguas.^[8]
• 1643 – French chocolat.^[2]
• 1705 – first record of chocolatero.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades describes the drink.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Mexican chocolatl.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. chocolate: a paste of ground cacao and sugar, usually flavoured with cinnamon or vanilla.^[7][21][1]
2. Hot chocolate, the drink made by dissolving and boiling this paste in water or milk.^[7][1]
3. (colloquial, Spain) Hashish.^[7][21][1]
4. (historical) The drink of the Aztecs, made from cacao powder and water.^[1][8]
5. (Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay; popular) Blood, especially from the nose.^[9]

Adjective

1. (Mexico, popular) Illegal.^[9]

Word family

• chocolatero
• chocolatería
• achocolatado
• chocolatada
• chocolateado
• chocolatina

Related words

• cacao
• Classical Nahuatl chocolātl

Usage notes

El chocolate del loro is a saving too small to matter, and las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso asks for plain dealing.^[7][21] Aragonese and Asturian have the form chicolate.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 385
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chocolate
4. ^ Friederici, Georg (1947), Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch, Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter, p. 182
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. chocolate
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. chocolate
7. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. chocolate
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. chocolate
9. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. chocolate
10. ^ Robelo, Cecilio A. (1904), Diccionario de aztequismos, o sea catálogo de las palabras del idioma náhuatl, azteca o mexicano, introducidas al idioma castellano bajo diversas formas, Cuernavaca: Imprenta del autor, p. 444
11. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 527
12. ^ Monlau, Pedro Felipe (1856), Diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana (ensayo), Madrid: Imprenta de la Sociedad Literaria y Tipográfica, p. 241
13. ^ a b Lenz, Rodolfo (1904–1910), Diccionario etimolójico de las voces chilenas derivadas de lenguas indíjenas americanas, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cervantes, p. 439
14. ^ 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. chocolate
15. ^ 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. chocolate
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 329
17. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 421
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 273
19. ^ 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. 332
20. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
21. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chocolate