doloroso

Forms

doloroso (feminine dolorosa, masculine plural dolorosos, feminine plural dolorosas, superlative dolorosísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin dolōrōsus (“painful; sorrowful”), from Latin dolor (“pain”).^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of dolor, and the Spanish Wiktionary describes it as the Spanish noun with the suffix -oso, through Late Latin.^[4][5][6] Old Spanish also had a form Old Spanish dolorioso, which Corominas explains by the influence of dolioso.^[4]

The Late Latin adjective is Italian doloroso, French douloureux, Catalan dolorós, Portuguese doloroso and Aromanian dururos.^[7][8] Portuguese had an older form Old Galician-Portuguese dooroso in the 13th century.^[9]

The Latin noun is formed from doleō (“to feel pain, grieve”) with the suffix -or.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Alfonso X's Estoria de España (1270–1284), in the lament for the loss of Spain: doloroso es el llanto, llorosos los alaridos “painful is the weeping, tearful the cries”.^[11][12] Corominas dated the word from Juan Ruiz (1330–1343), where it means “sad, pitiful”.^[4][5][13]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the adjective meant both “causing pain” and “sad, pitiful”.^[13][11] Autoridades defined it as lamentable and moving to compassion, and Moliner still records the sense “inspiring pity”.^[14][15] Terreros gave it the sense “causing pain” and noted that it was also used for dolorido.^[16]

As a feminine noun, la Dolorosa is an image of the Virgin Mary grieving at the death of Christ.^[2] Colloquially and ironically, la dolorosa is the bill that has to be paid.^[2] In medicine the adjective describes what causes pain or what comes with pain.^[17]

Timeline

• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España: doloroso es el llanto.^[11]
• c. 1295 – the Gran conquista de Ultramar has the feminine plural dolorosas.^[18]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz uses it for “sad, pitiful”; this is Corominas's first record.^[13][4]
• 1746 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[19]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros defines it as “causing pain”.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. painful: causing or involving physical or emotional pain: Fue una despedida muy dolorosa.^[2][1][15]
2. Pitiful, moving to compassion.^[15][14]

Noun

1. (feminine, la Dolorosa) An image of the Virgin Mary grieving at the death of Christ.^[2]
2. (feminine, colloquial, ironic) The bill that has to be paid.^[2]

Related words

• dolor
• doler
• dolorido
• duelo

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. doloroso
3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 238
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 513
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. doler
6. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. dolōrōsus
8. ^ 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. 233
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1234
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dolor
11. ^ 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. doloroso
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 330
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. doloroso
16. ^ a b 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, 698
17. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. doloroso
18. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. doloroso
19. ^ 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. doloroso