establo

Forms

establo m (plural establos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish establo, inherited from Latin stabulum (“standing place; stall, fold”).^[2][3][4][1] In Old Spanish the derivative establía was also used in the same sense, and it survives in Catalan.^[2]

The same Latin word is Catalan establa, Occitan estable, French étable, Italian stabbio (“pen, fold”), Romanian staul, Old Galician-Portuguese estabro, Galician estrabo and Asturian establu.^[5][6] Modern Portuguese estrabo means “dung”.^[7]

The Latin noun is stō (“to stand”) with the instrument and place suffix -bulum.^[8][1] It goes back to *staðlom, from *steh₂- (“to stand”) with the suffix *-dʰlom.^[1][9] estar is from the same verb.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 982 in Oelschläger's list.^[2][3] In literary texts the word appears in the Calila e Dimna (1251, in a copy of about 1400), where beasts gather a commer en los establos “to eat in the stables” without loving one another.^[11] In the Nuevo Testamento of the Escorial (before 1260) the Good Samaritan takes the wounded man al establo.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed “building where livestock is kept and fed”.^[4][12][13] Covarrubias in 1611 noted that the Latin word meant both the place for beasts and a lodging for travellers, like a venta or mesón.^[12] Salvá in 1846 added the sense of a stable for horses and mules.^[14]

In 19th-century Cuba establo was a livery stable, a business hiring out coaches.^[15][16] In Mexico it is now also a boxing gym.^[17] Figuratively it is a filthy, untidy room.^[10]

Timeline

• 982 – the first record, in a charter.^[2][3]
• 1178–1199 – a Mozarabic document of Toledo.^[18]
• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna (in a later copy).^[11]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General Estoria, part IV: a horse is sent back a so establo.^[19]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: establo de bestias o ganados, Latin stabulum.^[20]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin stabulum and stare.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, Latin stabulum.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stable, cowshed or byre: a covered building where livestock are kept to rest and feed: Metieron las vacas en el establo al anochecer.^[4][1]
2. (figurative) A very dirty and untidy room or house.^[10]
3. (Mexico) A gym where boxers train.^[17]
4. (Cuba, dated) A livery stable, a place hiring out coaches.^[15][16]

Word family

• establero
• establear
• establería

Related words

• estabular
• estar
• estable
• Latin stabulum
• French étable

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 776
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estar
4. ^ a b c 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. establo
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. stabulum
6. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. establu
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. estrabo
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. stabulum
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. establo
10. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. establo
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. establo
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 800
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 322
14. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 485
15. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 403
16. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 626
17. ^ 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. establo
18. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. establo
19. ^ 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. establo
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 350
21. ^ 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. establo
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 463