dormitorio

Forms

dormitorio m (plural dormitorios)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dormītōrium (“bedroom; dormitory”), one of the learned words that Corominas lists in the family of dormir.^[2][3] Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited, through Old Spanish dormitorio, and names the popular dormidero as its inherited doublet.^[1]

The Latin noun is the neuter of the adjective dormītōrius (“of or for sleeping”), formed on the stem of the past participle of dormiō (“to sleep”).^[1][4] It already meant “bedroom” in imperial Latin, and Christian Latin used it for the common sleeping hall of a religious community.^[5] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to sleep”), a root whose sense “sleep” survives only in Latin and Slavic.^[6]

The REW lists French dortoir and Old Spanish dormidor as popular outcomes of the Latin noun.^[7] The French word came through dortour.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a copy of the late 13th century) lists the rooms of a well-run monastery, with some monks in the church, some in the refectory and otros en dormitorio, “others in the dormitory”.^[8][2] Alfonso X's Primera Partida likewise forbids monks to talk in the church, the refectory or el dormitorio.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defined it as the corridor of a convent where the cells are, and explained the name by the older custom of the whole community sleeping in one hall, with the beds separated by curtains or walls; it gave the room for sleeping in a private house as a second sense.^[10] The Academy's 1817 edition still put the monastic sense first, then the room in a house.^[11] From 1843 the Academy kept only the general sense, “the room meant for sleeping”.^[12] Domínguez added the hall of a school or other institution where the beds are set out.^[13]

Today the word means a bedroom, and by extension the set of furniture for it;^[14][15] ciudad dormitorio is a town whose inhabitants work elsewhere.^[14][15] In the Spanish of the United States it also means a student residence, under the influence of English dormitory and dorm.^[16] In the Dominican Republic it names a place that lets rooms for the night.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Berceo uses dormitorio for the sleeping hall of a monastery (in a late 13th-century copy).^[8][2]
• 1256–1263 – Alfonso X's Primera Partida forbids talking in the dormitory.^[8][9]
• 1293 – the Castigos of Sancho IV, the first record in a manuscript of the work's own time.^[8]
• c. 1330–1343 – the Libro de buen amor promises los grandes dormitorios with well-made beds.^[8]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin dormitorium as its equivalent.^[18]
• 1548 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[19]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as the corridor of the cells in a convent, and as a bedroom in a house.^[10]
• 1843 – the Academy defines it only as the room for sleeping.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. dormitorium”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bedroom: the room of a house or flat used for sleeping.^[14][1]
2. A set of bedroom furniture: Compraron un dormitorio de pino para el niño.^[14][15]
3. The common sleeping hall of a convent, school or other institution; a dormitory.^[13][1]
4. (United States) A student residence, a dorm.^[16]
5. (Dominican Republic) A cheap lodging that lets rooms for the night.^[17]

Word family

• antedormitorio
• ciudad dormitorio

Related words

• dormir
• dormitar
• dormidero
• French dortoir

Usage notes

Ciudad dormitorio “dormitory town” is a fixed compound.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 518
3. ^ 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. dormitorio
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. dormitorio
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. dortoir
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. dormitorium
8. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. dormitorio
9. ^ 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. dormitorio
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 340
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 336
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 273
13. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 643
14. ^ 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. dormitorio
15. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dormitorio
16. ^ a b Moreno-Fernández, Francisco (2018), Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense (Informes del Observatorio 037-01/2018SP), Cambridge, Mass.: Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University, p. 54
17. ^ 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. dormitorio
18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 338
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. dormitorio
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 400