dengue

Forms

dengue m (plural dengues)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas considers it probably an expressive creation, with the original sense “affectation, fussiness”; the DLE calls it onomatopoeic, and Moliner of expressive origin.^[2][3][4][5] He follows Schuchardt in comparing dingolondango (“caress, flattery”), Mexican tenguedengue (“affectation”) and Andalusian tenguerengue, in a phrase meaning “to be about to fall”, where the reduplication underlines the expressive character.^[2][3] He also compares French dandiner (“to waddle”), English dandle, German tändeln and Italian dondolare (“to swing”).^[2] He rejects Diez's derivation from Latin dēnegō (“to deny”), since Spanish has no corresponding verb, and an etymon meaning “to waste away with grief or illness” in Arabic.^[2] García de Diego calls the word of uncertain origin.^[6]

The sense “disease” is disputed.^[2][7] Corominas, after Schuchardt (1891), has no doubt that it grew out of “affectation”, either from the stiffness the pains leave or because the often mild disease was dismissed as mere fussiness.^[2] The DHLE, Wiktionary and the Spanish Wiktionary derive the disease name instead from Swahili dinga (“sudden attack, seizure”), part of the phrase ka dinga pepo, which reached the Caribbean from East Africa and was assimilated in Cuba to the Spanish word.^[7][1][8] The DTME leaves open whether the African word was associated with an existing Spanish word or itself came from America.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DHLE dates the sense “affected show of delicacy or scruples” from 1707.^[7] The CDH's first record is in José de Cañizares's play La más ilustre fregona (1715), where a servant says he no longer dares even a dengue.^[10] Autoridades in 1732 calls it a recently invented word for a womanish affectation of delicacy, ailments or distaste for what one likes most.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The second sense, a narrow woman's cape with long ends crossed over the breast, is recorded from 1728 in a dowry receipt and was described by Autoridades as newly introduced.^[10][7][11] Corominas thinks either sense could be the older one, since both concern women.^[2] The cape is also known in Galicia, and in León it was once worn in every district.^[2][12] Lima texts of 1797 already use dengues for affected swaying and coyness.^[13]

The disease name appears in Spanish in 1828, in an article in the Correo Literario y Mercantil of Madrid.^[7] It was missing from the Academy's dictionary of 1884;^[1] Corominas found it in Pagés's dictionary of 1901.^[2] For a long time it also named any epidemic fever such as influenza, and only in the late 19th century were the two clearly told apart; since 1981 dengue hemorrágico has named the severe form, mainly in American news.^[7] Puerto Rico still uses the word for a heavy cold or flu.^[14] English dengue comes from the Spanish of the West Indies, Corominas says, and he notes that English dandy-fever (1828) may be either an alteration of the Spanish word or its source.^[2]

In the Americas the word also means a swaying of the hips (Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, northwestern Argentina) and in Mexico a tantrum.^[14][4] Moliner records a play in the card game tresillo joining the aces of spades and clubs.^[5]

Timeline

• 1707 – first record of the sense “affectation”, according to the DHLE.^[7]
• 1715 – Cañizares, La más ilustre fregona.^[10]
• 1728 – a dowry receipt lists a dengue of scarlet cloth, the woman's cape.^[10][7]
• 1732 – Autoridades records both senses as recent.^[11][3]
• 1797 – first records in the Americas, in Lima.^[13]
• 1828 – first record as the name of the disease, in Madrid.^[7]
• 1901 – the disease sense is in Pagés's dictionary, though not yet in the Academy's of 1884.^[2]
• 1981 – dengue hemorrágico appears in the press.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Affectation (melindre), fussiness: an affected show of delicacy, ailments or distaste for what one really wants: Déjate de dengues y come.^[4][5][1]
2. A woman's short cape of cloth reaching to the middle of the back, with ends crossed over the breast and fastened behind the waist; a kind of tippet (esclavina).^[4][7]
3. (medicine) dengue: an epidemic tropical fever spread by mosquitoes, with pains in the limbs and a rash.^[4][9][1]
4. (Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico) A swaying (contoneo) of the hips.^[4][14]

Word family

• dengoso
• denguero

Related words

• melindre
• remilgo
• perendengue

Usage notes

A Chilean plant, the marvel of Peru (Mirabilis jalapa), whose flowers wither at the slightest touch, is also called dengue; the DLE gives it as a separate headword without etymology, and the DHLE records it from 1849.^[4][7]

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 k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 442
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dengue
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. dengue
5. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dengue
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. dengue
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. dengue
8. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. dengue
9. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. dengue
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. dengue
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 69
12. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. dengue
13. ^ 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. dengue
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. dengue