colar

Forms

colar (first-person singular present cuelo, first-person singular preterite colé, past participle colado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cōlāre (“to strain, filter”), derived from cōlum (“strainer, colander”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is a rustic technical word without a clear etymology.^[5]

The same verb is Portuguese coar, Galician coar, Asturian colar, Catalan colar, Occitan colar, French couler and Italian colare.^[6][7][8] Because the Latin vowel was long, the present had at first no diphthong, ⟨cola⟩ “strains”, a form found in Alfonso de Palencia, in 17th-century editions of Lope de Vega and still among Argentine gauchos; the usual ⟨cuela⟩ follows the pattern of other verbs.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first records are in Berceo.^[2][3] In Del sacrificio de la misa (1228–1246, in a copy of the early 14th century) the priest's actions represent la sangne … e la agua colada / que exió de don Christo quand priso la lanzada “the blood and the water that ran out of Christ when he received the lance-thrust”, and the Vida de San Millán compares a dead man's face with la cera colada “refined wax”.^[10] Earlier CDH hits are other words: Colada, the name of the Cid's sword, and cola “tail”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the verb for straining a liquid, as in a 13th-century treatise on hawks, and for refining or purifying, as in Alfonso X's General Estoria: colar los a como oro & como plata “he will refine them like gold and silver”.^[11] In 1494 it also meant “to discharge, expel” from the body.^[12] Covarrubias (1611) describes bleaching laundry with hot lye poured through a basket, the colada.^[13] Autoridades adds the vulgar sense “to drink wine, and plenty of it”.^[9]

The reflexive colarse “to slip in unseen” dates from 1679.^[3] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 has “to pass through a narrow place” and “to pass by deceit or trickery”, and Alemany (1917) the phrase no colar “not to be believed”.^[14][15] Modern colloquial senses include saying something inappropriate, making mistakes and being madly in love (estar colado).^[4] In Cuba and the Dominican Republic colar means to make coffee, in Mexico “to go, move off”, and in Asturian “to leave, go away”.^{[4][16][17][18]}

Timeline

• 1228–1246 – Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa has agua colada.^[10][2]
• 1250–1300 – the Moamín prescribes straining a decoction of marsh mallow roots.^[11]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses it for refining metals.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: colar por coladero, Latin colo.^[12]
• 1512 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the bleaching of laundry.^[13]
• 1679 – colarse “to slip in unseen”.^[3]
• 1729 – Autoridades records “to drink wine”.^[9]
• 1917 – Alemany records no colar “not to be believed”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To strain, filter a liquid through a cloth, sieve or strainer: Hay que colar la leche para quitarle la nata.^[4][1]
2. (transitive) To bleach washed linen in hot lye.^[4]
3. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) To make coffee.^[4][16]
4. (intransitive) To pass through a narrow place.^[4]
5. (intransitive, colloquial) To drink wine.^[4]
6. (intransitive, colloquial) Of something false, to pass by trickery, to be believed: esa excusa no cuela.^[4]
7. (reflexive, colloquial) To slip in without permission, to gatecrash: Se coló en el concierto sin entrada.^[4][1]
8. (reflexive, colloquial) To say something improper or untrue; to make mistakes.^[4][1]
9. (reflexive, colloquial, mostly as a participle) To be madly in love: está colado por ella.^[4][1]
10. (reflexive, Argentina, Uruguay, football) Of a player, to slip through the defence with the ball.^[4]
11. (Mexico, colloquial) To go, move off.^[17]

Word family

• colada
• coladero
• colador
• trascolar

Related words

• colársela
• recolar
• Latin cōlum
• French couler
• Italian colare

Usage notes

The DLE lists separately a transitive colar “to confer an ecclesiastical benefice canonically”, from Medieval Latin collāre (“to confer”), from collātus (“conferred”), the past participle of cōnferō (“to confer”); unlike the verb for straining it is regular (colo).^[4][1] Nebrija's dictionary of 1513 has colar beneficios.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 134
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. colar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. colar
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. couler
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1719
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. colar
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 405
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. colar
11. ^ a b c 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. colar
12. ^ 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. 718
13. ^ 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. 482
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 211
15. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 407
16. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. colar
17. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 271
18. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. colar
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. colar
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 314