delicioso

Forms

delicioso (feminine deliciosa, masculine plural deliciosos, feminine plural deliciosas, superlative deliciosísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin dēliciōsus (“delightful, delicate”), a Late Latin adjective.^[2][1][3] The Latin word is a derivative of Latin dēliciae (“delight, pleasure”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[4][1] Corominas treats it under delicia, which is recorded only about 1440, two centuries after this adjective.^[5]

The same Latin adjective was taken over as Portuguese delicioso, French délicieux, Italian delizioso and Romanian delicios, and English has delicious.^[1] The French and Portuguese words are learned borrowings, as the Spanish one is.^[6][1]

Wiktionary derives the Latin noun from a rare verb dēliciō, made of dē- and laciō (“to entice”), the base of dēlectō.^[1] From that verb Spanish has, by a semi-learned route, deleitar and deleite.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish and Corominas both date the first record to Berceo, in the second quarter of the 13th century.^[7][5] In the prose of Alfonso X it describes a lavish table: the Estoria de España (1270–1284) speaks of tu mesa deliciosa llena de quantas cosas el comedor demanda, “your delicious table, full of everything the eater asks for”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined the word as pleasant, agreeable, gentle and tasty, and quoted Solís on a coast that seemed deliciosa.^[9] Salvá in 1846 and Gaspar y Roig recorded an old sense, “given to pleasures, voluptuous”.^[10][11] Medieval Latin had the same sense, and also used deliciosus for a trusted favourite of a prince.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition added the etymology and defined the word as “capable of causing delight”, as the DLE still does.^[13][2]

Today it is used above all of food and smells, and also of places, weather and pleasant experiences.^[14][1] Applied to a person it means charming, and in informal speech an anecdote can be deliciosa, amusingly funny.^[14] In the Americas it is recorded from 1690, in Mexico City.^[15]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[7][5]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España speaks of a mesa deliciosa.^[8]
• 1690 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as pleasant and tasty.^[9]
• 1846 – Salvá notes the obsolete sense “given to pleasures”.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the Latin etymology for the first time.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. delicious, tasty: very pleasant to taste or smell: Tu abuela hace una tarta deliciosa.^[2][1][14]
2. delightful, very pleasant or agreeable, of a place, the weather or an experience.^[2][1][14]
3. Of a person, charming, pleasant to talk to and be with.^[14]
4. (informal) Funny, amusing.^[14]

Related words

• delicia
• deleite
• deleitar
• Latin dēliciōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. delicioso
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. delicioso
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. delicia
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. delicioso
7. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 168
8. ^ 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. delicioso
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 61
10. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 353
11. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 744
12. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
13. ^ 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. 345
14. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. delicioso
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. delicioso