escandaloso

Forms

escandaloso (feminine escandalosa, masculine plural escandalosos, feminine plural escandalosas)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish escándalo + -oso, and is recorded from the second quarter of the 15th century, in Pérez de Guzmán.^[2][3][1] The DLE treats it as a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin scandalōsus (“abominable, scandalous”), as do Segura Munguía and Wikcionario.^[4][5][6] escándalo, recorded in 1374 and 1427, is taken from Late Latin scandalum, from Ancient Greek σκάνδαλον (skándalon, “trap or obstacle to make one fall; scandal”).^[2]

The nautical noun escandalosa, a small sail, may owe its name to the noise a fresh wind makes in it, Corominas suggests; Catalan escandalosa is the same word.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the adjective in Pérez de Guzmán, in the second quarter of the 15th century, and in Palencia's vocabulary of 1490.^[2][3] HSMS has 16 occurrences in 11 texts, the first in a manuscript dated 1444.^[7] Its first sense is “causing scandal”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades gave two senses: “perverse, bad”, properly said of a person or thing that gives occasion for scandal, and “noisy, boisterous, full of disquiet”, as in Guevara's peligroso y escandaloso tumulto.^[8] The Academy kept both senses (“causing scandal” and “noisy, rowdy, restless”) in every edition, and gave the etymology from Latin scandalosus in 1884.^[9][10][4] Domínguez in 1846 already recorded the nautical noun for a triangular sail set above the gaff sails in light winds, and the BDELC dates this sense to 1831.^[11][3]

The first record in the Americas is from Panama in 1550 (palabras escandalosas).^[12] In Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador a colour that is too bright, or badly matched with others, is escandaloso.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1425–1450 – first record, in Pérez de Guzmán.^[2][3]
• 1444 – the first HSMS occurrence, in a cancionero manuscript.^[7]
• 1490 – Palencia's vocabulary has the word.^[2]
• 1550 – first record in the Americas, in Panama.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades distinguishes “causing scandal” and “noisy, boisterous”.^[8]
• 1831 – the nautical noun escandalosa is first recorded.^[3]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin scandalosus.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing scandal (escándalo); scandalous, shocking (also as a noun): Fue una decisión escandalosa.^[4][1][15]
2. Noisy, rowdy (revoltoso), restless (also as a noun, of a person who shouts or makes a fuss).^[4][15]
3. (Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Ecuador) Of a colour: too bright, or badly matched; garish.^[13]

Noun

1. (nautical, feminine: escandalosa) A small sail set above the cangreja in fair weather.^[4][3]

Related words

• escándalo
• escandalizar
• Latin scandalōsus

Usage notes

The colloquial phrase echar la escandalosa means to resort to harsh words in an argument.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 672
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escándalo
4. ^ 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. escandaloso
5. ^ 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. 715
6. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 553
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 310
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 446
11. ^ 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. 724
12. ^ 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. escandaloso
13. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. escandaloso
14. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 616
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. escandaloso