espléndido

Forms

espléndido (feminine espléndida, masculine plural espléndidos, feminine plural espléndidas)^[1] The spelling expléndido is found in older texts, as in a expléndido vanquete of 1673 from Nueva Galicia.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin splendidus (“bright, shining; brilliant”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin adjective is formed splendeō (“to shine”) with the suffix -idus.^[6][1] De Vaan reconstructs the verb as Proto-Indo-European *splnd(h)-eh₁- (“to be manifest”) and compares Old Irish sluindid (“to declare, name”), whose sense suggests a link with a root for public speech.^[7]

Corominas lists it among the learned derivatives of the rare poetic verb esplender, with esplendor and esplendente; resplandecer, from the related Latin resplendeō, is the older word of the family.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Pérez de Guzmán, in the second quarter of the 15th century; other 15th- and 16th-century writers use it, and Oudin and Lope have it later.^[3][4] The earliest record from the Americas is from Mexico in 1575, of algún espléndido gasto “some lavish expense” made to give lustre to one's person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1846 Salvá defined it as “magnificent, liberal, ostentatious”, and in poetry “resplendent”.^[8] Domínguez added “abundant, sumptuous, dazzling” and, in colloquial use, “generous, lavish”.^[9] The Academy gave the etymology in 1899, and Alemany in 1917 noted that “resplendent” was used mostly in poetry.^[10][11] Today the DLE has “magnificent, outstandingly excellent” first, then “generous” and the poetic “resplendent”.^[5] Moliner notes that it is said of a sun, a day or a landscape, and of people who spend freely on others.^[12]

Timeline

• 1425–1450 – Pérez de Guzmán, Corominas's first record.^[3][4]
• 1575 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[2]
• 1673 – un expléndido vanquete, in Nueva Galicia.^[2]
• 1846 – Salvá defines it as “magnificent, liberal, ostentatious”.^[8]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin splendidus.^[10]
• 1917 – Alemany marks the sense “resplendent” as mainly poetic.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. splendid, magnificent, outstandingly excellent: La cena fue espléndida.^[5][1]
2. generous, liberal, open-handed: Siempre se mostró espléndido con los vecinos.^[5][12]
3. (poetic) Resplendent, shining.^[5]

Word family

• espléndidamente
• esplendidez

Related words

• esplendente
• esplender
• esplendor
• resplandecer
• Latin splendidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. espléndido
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 749
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. esplender
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. espléndido
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 483
9. ^ 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. 750
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 426
11. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 715
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espléndido