delgado

Forms

delgado (feminine delgada, masculine plural delgados, feminine plural delgadas, superlative delgadísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dēlicātus (“delightful, tender, fine”).^[2][3][4][1] Its doublet delicado, taken from the same Latin word by the learned route, kept a meaning closer to the Latin and is first recorded in 1438.^[2][3][5] The Diccionario de Autoridades explained the word as the doublet with the ⟨i⟩ and ⟨c⟩ dropped and ⟨g⟩ in their place.^[6]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese delgado, Old Catalan delgat, Old Occitan delgat and Old French deugié or dougié.^[2][7] It survives as Catalan dalgat “too thin” in the Alto Pallars.^[2] French délié “thin, slender” is the Latin word adapted to French.^[8]

The Latin adjective seems to be formed from the root of dēliciae (“delight”) with the suffix -ātus.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Latinising delgato of a charter of 1034; the Spanish form appears in Berceo.^[2][3] Berceo already uses it in the modern sense “thin”, but also in the Latin sense “fine” (of cloth) and for “scant” (ganancia delgada “a meagre gain”).^[2] The Libro de Apolonio (c. 1250) has it too.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense opposed to “thick” or “fat” has been general since the Libro de Alexandre and Juan Ruiz; other senses came directly from Latin, such as “high, shrill” of voices in Alfonso XI's Libro de la montería.^[2] Alfonso X's prose uses it of a thin person, of thin things, of something delicate and of scant ears of grain.^[11] Covarrubias in 1611 opposed it to coarse or fat, and gave the figurative sense “subtle, ingenious” and the phrase hilar delgado “to be overscrupulous”.^[12] Autoridades recorded the proverb quebrar por lo más delgado, advising the weak not to contend with the powerful, and tierra delgada “poor soil”.^[6] The Academy added agua delgada “pure water” in 1817, and the nautical sense and the flanks of animals in 1843.^[13][14]

In the Americas the word is recorded from 1520 in Santo Domingo, in the sense “meagre” of gold mining.^[15] In Mexico it is said of a thin, watery liquid.^[16]

Timeline

• 1034 – the Latinising form delgato in a charter.^[2][3]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses delgado.^[2][17]
• c. 1250 – the derivative delgadez in the Setenario.^[2]
• 1256 – Alfonso X's Picatrix speaks of a man with a thin nose.^[11]
• 1438 – the learned doublet delicado is first recorded.^[3]
• 1520 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records hilar delgado.^[12]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the nautical sense.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. thin, slim; having little flesh: Desde que corre está más delgado.^[4][18][1]
2. Thin, of little thickness: un alambre delgado.^[4][18]
3. delicate, soft.^[4][1]
4. Of land or soil: poor, lacking in substance.^[4]
5. Sharp, subtle, ingenious.^[4]
6. (obsolete) Little, short, scant.^[4]

Noun

1. (nautical) Each of the parts at the bow and stern where the bilge narrows.^[4]
2. (in the plural) The lower belly of a quadruped, towards the flanks; the flank of a carcass.^[4]

Word family

• delgadez
• delgaducho
• adelgazar
• delgazar

Related words

• delicado
• Latin delicatus
• English delicate

Usage notes

Set phrases include intestino delgado “small intestine” and agua delgada “water with few salts”.^[4][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 439
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. delgado
4. ^ 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. delgado
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 59
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2538
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. délié
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. delicatus
10. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 167
11. ^ 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. delgado
12. ^ 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. 643
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 283
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 231
15. ^ 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. delgado
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. delgado
17. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 201
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. delgado
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. delgado