diaspro

Forms

diaspro m (plural diaspros)^[1] The variant diáspero is older, from 1555 (Laguna), and the Academy also lists diásporo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian diaspro (“jasper”), according to Corominas, Wiktionary and the Academy's editions of 1884 and 1899.^[2][1][4][5] The DLE derives it from Medieval Latin diasprum instead, a word that itself comes from Latin iaspis (“agate, jasper”).^[6][7]

The Italian word is recorded from 1263 (in the spelling ⟨diaspado⟩) and 1282, and the medieval Latin one from 1249 at Ravenna.^[8] Some take the medieval Latin word for a faulty transcription or remodelling of the classical word, others for a compound of Ancient Greek διά (diá, “through, at intervals”) and ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).^[8][9] Corominas calls it a corrupt form of the Latin word.^[2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἴασπις (íaspis), an oriental loanword compared with Biblical Hebrew יָשְׁפֵה (yāšəfēh).^[10][11][12]

The learned word taken directly from the Latin is jaspe, beside Portuguese jaspe, Catalan jaspi and French jaspe.^{[2][13][14][15]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds diaspro in Ribadeneira, about 1600, and diáspero in Laguna in 1555, as the name of a kind of jasper.^[2] In medieval Latin, French and other Romance languages the corrupt form diasprum, diaspro was also used for a multicoloured silk cloth like damask, the sense jaspe or jaspre has in the Gran Conquista de Ultramar;^[16] Niermeyer gives the medieval Latin word both as a white silk fabric and as a kind of stone.^[2][16]

Semantic evolution

Terreros listed diáspero or diaspro only as a synonym of jaspe.^[17] The Academy's 1817 edition placed the stone among the greater precious stones, of which whole statues and columns are made, in various colours.^[18] From 1884 the Academy has defined it as the name of some varieties of jasper.^[19][6] From 1899 it also gives diaspro sanguino for heliotrope, a dark green agate with red spots.^[4][5][6][7] A record from Lima in 1794 names diaspros beside jaspes among rocks.^[20]

Timeline

• 1249 – medieval Latin diasprum at Ravenna.^[8]
• 1555 – the variant diáspero in Laguna.^[2]
• c. 1600 – diaspro in Ribadeneira.^[2]
• 1794 – diaspros in a text from Lima.^[20]
• 1817 – the Academy describes it as a precious stone used for statues and columns.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Italian diaspro.^[4]
• 1899 – the phrase diaspro sanguino “heliotrope” enters the Academy's dictionary.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mineralogy) A variety of jasper (jasper).^[6][1][7]

Related words

• jaspe
• diáspero
• Latin iaspis
• Italian diaspro

Usage notes

Diaspro sanguino is heliotrope or bloodstone, a variety of agate.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 499
3. ^ 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. diáspero
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)
5. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía
6. ^ a b c d e 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. diaspro
7. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
8. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. ἴασπις
13. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 882
14. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. jaspe
15. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
16. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
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, 673
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 322
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 382
20. ^ 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