esmeralda

Forms

esmeralda f (plural esmeraldas)^[1] The Libro de Alexandre has the masculine esmaragde (one manuscript esmeraldo); esmeralda appears in the Primera Crónica General (c. 1295), and the Cancionero de Baena also has esmerada.^[2][3] Nebrija preferred esmaragda, and the DEMel also records esmeralla.^[2][4]

Etymology

Corominas's view is that it is inherited from Latin smaragdus (“emerald”), masculine or feminine in Latin, perhaps through a feminine *smaragda used in Vulgar Latin or early Romance.^[2][3] He admits that it may instead have come through French, where the word is recorded from the 12th century and where the change of /a/ to /e/ is regular, as it is not in Spanish.^[2] The DLE and Moliner take it as borrowed from Old French esmeralde.^[5][6] Wiktionary allows both, starting from the Vulgar Latin alterations *smeralda and *smaraldus.^[1]

If the word is native, its /l/ from /g/ is the same change as in enjalma and in ⟨Baldac⟩ for ⟨Bagdad⟩; if it came from French, the ⟨l⟩ was put in on the model of the correspondence of French ⟨-aud⟩ with Spanish ⟨-aldo⟩.^[2] Corominas also allows an influence of esmerar “to refine”.^[2]

The word is Portuguese esmeralda, Italian smeraldo, French émeraude, Old Occitan esmerauda and Catalan maragda.^[2][7] Latin had it from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos), a word of Semitic origin; the DHLF connects it with a Semitic root meaning “to shine”.^[3][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) describes it at length: es la piedra aque dizen en arauigo zamorat & en latin esmeralda. esta piedra es uerde de muy fermosa uerdura “it is the stone that is called zamorat in Arabic and esmeralda in Latin; this stone is green, of a very beautiful greenness”.^[9][10] The Poridat de las poridades of about the same date already ascribes to it the virtue of bringing its owner honour.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The masculine esmaragde of the Libro de Alexandre gave way to the feminine esmeralda, which became general from the late 13th century, though Nebrija still preferred esmaragda.^[2][3] Covarrubias wrote in 1611 that, according to Pliny, the emerald held third place among precious stones and had twelve kinds.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades quoted Clavijo's account of hangings set with emeralds and Acosta on how emeralds grow in rock.^[13]

The conquest brought the emeralds of the Americas: a 1535 text from Peru speaks of a vivero de esmeraldas “a nursery of emeralds”, and Oviedo in 1548 repeated their old virtues for the eyes and against epilepsy.^[14] The colour sense, as in verde esmeralda, is now also used as an adjective.^[5][6] In Mexico esmeralda is also a plant, Scabiosa atropurpurea.^[15] Esmeralda is also a woman's name.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – Alfonso X's Lapidario describes the esmeralda.^[11][9]
• c. 1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has the masculine esmaragde.^[3][2]
• c. 1295 – the Primera Crónica General has esmeralda, Corominas's first record of the form.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives esmaragda.^[2]
• 1535 – the first record in the Americas, in Peru.^[14]
• 1604 – the derivative esmeraldino is first recorded.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives Pliny's ranking of the stone.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from Latin smaragdus.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. An emerald, a transparent green variety of beryl, coloured by chromium oxide and prized as a gem: Llevaba un anillo con una esmeralda.^[5][1]
2. The colour of the emerald.^[5]
3. (Mexico) A plant, Scabiosa atropurpurea, with heads of bluish flowers.^[15]

Adjective

1. Emerald-coloured; invariable: unos ojos esmeralda.^[5][1]

Word family

• esmeraldino

Related words

• Latin smaragdus
• French émeraude

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 729
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. esmeralda
4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. esmeralda
5. ^ 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. esmeralda
6. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. esmeralda
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8041
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. émeraude
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. esmeralda
10. ^ 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. esmeralda
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. esmeralda
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 782
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 585
14. ^ 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. esmeralda
15. ^ 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. esmeralda