doble

Forms

doble m or f (masculine and feminine plural dobles)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote duple, dupple, duplo and dubre.^[2] An Old Spanish noun doblo “double amount” was used in legal language, as in the penalty pena del doblo.^[1][3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin duplus (“double”), or, as the DLE says, Latin duplex (“twofold”).^[4][5][6][1] The final ⟨-e⟩ is hard to explain.^[5][1] García de Diego derives it from the Latin adverb duple (“doubly”), and rejects both the DLE's etymon and a borrowing from Catalan.^[5] Segura and Moliner also derive it from the adverb.^[5][4][7] Corominas instead takes it from the adjective in ⟨-us⟩ through an earlier doblo, whose final vowel changed to ⟨-e⟩ by dissimilation.^[8][5] Wiktionary also considers a Vulgar Latin variant accusative *duplem, and a Catalan or Occitan intermediary.^[1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese dobro, Galician dobre, Catalan doble, Occitan doble, French double and Italian doppio.^[9][5][1] The learned duplo was taken from Latin later, as was ⟨dúplex⟩.^[1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *duplos, formed from duo (“two”) and -plus (“-fold”), like Ancient Greek διπλόος (diplóos, “double”).^[1] Gómez de Silva derives it from Proto-Indo-European *du-plo-, from the root of “two” and a suffix meaning “-fold”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it as a noun for the layers of a coat of mail: „Tres dobles de loriga tenié Fernando, aquesto·l' prestó” “Fernando had three layers of mail on his hauberk, and that saved him”.^[11][12][13] Berceo has the adjective in doble pena “double suffering”.^[14][12]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose has the main modern senses: “twice as much” in mathematics, “twin”, and “false, insincere” in doble coraçon “a double heart”.^[15] Old Spanish also counted with it, as in siete dobles “sevenfold”.^[9] Covarrubias mentions double taffeta and the oficio doble of the liturgy.^[16] Autoridades added the sense “ringing of bells”, and the Academy of 1843 limited it to the toll for the dead.^[17][18] The Academy also recorded “stout and strong in the limbs” and, by 1869, a figure of the Spanish dance.^[19][20]

The 19th-century dictionaries added double flowers, and the noun now also means a stand-in for an actor and a person's double.^[21][1][22] In Caribbean baseball, a calque of English double, it is a two-base hit.^[23][24] In the Dominican Republic it also names a Christmas bonus, and in Chile a two-litre measure, short for doble litro.^[25][26]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has tres dobles de loriga.^[11][12]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first record in an original copy.^[11]
• 1251 – the earliest text in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[27]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses doble coraçon for insincerity.^[15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija translates it with Latin duplex.^[3]
• 1533 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[28]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the sense “ringing of bells”.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. duplex”.^[29]

Meanings

Adjective

1. double, twice as large, or containing a quantity exactly twice; also as a noun, el doble: Gana el doble que su hermano.^[6][1]
2. Made of two equal or similar elements, or done twice: doble ventana.^[6]
3. Of cloth and other things: thicker than the single kind.^[6]
4. (botany) Of a flower: having more petals than the single kind.^[6]
5. Of a domino: with the same number of spots on both halves.^[6]
6. deceitful, two-faced, insincere.^[6][15]
7. (rare) Stout and strong of limb.^[6]

Noun

1. A fold (doblez), or the crease it leaves.^[6]
2. The tolling of bells for the dead.^[6]
3. (finance) A stock-exchange operation of buying or selling for cash and reselling or rebuying shortly after, and the difference paid in it.^[6]
4. A person who closely resembles another; a stand-in for an actor in dangerous scenes;^[22][1] (folklore) a doppelgänger.^[22][1]
5. (sports) A match with two players on each side.^[22]
6. (Caribbean, baseball) A two-base hit.^[23]
7. (Dominican Republic) A Christmas bonus.^[23][25]

Word family

• doblemente
• doblar
• doblez
• doblón

Related words

• dobla
• doblegar
• doblo
• dos
• duplo
• dúplex
• Latin duplus
• Portuguese dobro

Usage notes

Al doble means “twice as much”, and doble sentido and doble moral are common set phrases.^[6][1] In Argentina, Chile and Peru estar a tres dobles y un repique means “to be penniless”.^[30][26]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. doble
3. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. doble
4. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 205
5. ^ a b c d e f García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2375
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. doble
7. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. doble
8. ^ 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. doble
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. duplus
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 237
11. ^ 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. doble
12. ^ a b c Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 195
13. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 220
14. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 306
15. ^ 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. doble
16. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 685
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 322
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 270
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 333
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 287
21. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 413
22. ^ a b c d Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. doble
23. ^ 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. doble
24. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. doble
25. ^ 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. doble
26. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 168
27. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. doble
28. ^ 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. doble
29. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 366
30. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1999), Vocabulario de Puerto Rico, critical ed. by Humberto López Morales, Madrid: Arco/Libros (1st ed. 1937), p. 175