estambre

Forms

estambre m (plural estambres)^[1] Old Spanish wrote estanbre beside estambre;^[2] García de Diego lists the old Castilian form estamne and the old Aragonese stampne, and a toll list of Zaragoza of 1291 has estapne.^[2][3] The western, Leonese manuscripts have estame (the Libro de Alexandre) and estanble (the Salamanca manuscript of Juan Ruiz).^[4]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin stāmen (“warp of a loom; thread”).^[4][5][6] Wiktionary starts it from the oblique stem, Vulgar Latin *stāminem.^[1] The Latin word was neuter;^[2][7][8] Spanish has wavered between masculine and feminine, and Corominas thinks the feminine belongs to the west, judging from the Salamanca manuscript of Juan Ruiz and on the present use of Cespedosa de Tormes.^[4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese estame, Catalan estam, French étaim and Italian stame; in nearly all the Romance languages it means woollen yarn or combed wool.^[2][7][8] The Catalan word is recorded from 1252.^[8]

The Latin noun is formed on the root of stō (“to stand”);^[9][10][1] Varro already explained it by the warp standing upright in the loom.^[9][10][1] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Italic *stāmen and Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂mn̥, from *steh₂- (“to stand”), and compares Sanskrit स्थामन् (sthā́man, “place; strength”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌼𐌰 (stōma).^[1] The OLD compares Ancient Greek στήμων (stḗmōn, “warp”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first part of Alfonso X's General Estoria (1272–1275, in a 13th-century manuscript) uses the word for the long fibres of the wool spun on a spindle: a bride was taken to the temple with una rueca llena de lana & un fuso con estambre “a distaff full of wool and a spindle with yarn”.^[11][3] The same work describes a garment woven from fine Egyptian linen yarn, la estambre de bisso.^[3] Corominas's first record is Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor (1330–1343), and he thinks the word is probably already in the Libro de Alexandre in a transferred sense, the strength of an army.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word named spun wool and the warp of a loom: a work of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1385) compares the weaver of weft and warp, trama & estambre.^[3][11] It is found in Aragonese inventories from 1368, and Nebrija gave estambre de lana as the equivalent of Latin stamen.^[4][12] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as a strand of wool twisted on the spindle.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1732) described it as the fine combed, cleaned and twisted wool used for cloth, estameña and stockings.^[14]

The poetic phrase estambre de la vida “the thread of life” went with the image of the Fates spinning a person's life: Autoridades quotes Garcilaso, and in the Quijote the Fates are said to have cut la estambre de la vida.^[14][15] A record from the New Kingdom of Granada in 1588 has the same image.^[16] The DLE now labels the phrase obsolete.^[6]

The botanical sense, the male organ of a flower, is in the Academy's dictionary by 1817, as the threads in the centre of flowers such as the lily and the saffron crocus.^[17] The 1899 edition defined it as the male sexual organ of flowering plants.^[18] The Academy's dictionaries gave the noun as masculine and feminine from 1843, and the DLE notes that it was also used as a feminine.^[19][6]

Timeline

• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses estambre for spun wool.^[11][3]
• 1291 – a toll list of Zaragoza has the Aragonese form estapne.^[3]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz writes estanbre, Corominas's first record.^[4][5]
• 1368 – the word appears in Aragonese inventories.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives estambre de lana for Latin stamen.^[12]
• 1556 – first record from the Americas, in Puebla.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as twisted wool.^[13]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records estambre de la vida.^[14]
• 1817 – the botanical sense is in the Academy's dictionary.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives its etymology, Latin stamen.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. The part of a sheep's fleece made up of long fibres.^[6][21]
2. worsted: yarn spun from those long fibres, and the cloth woven from it: un traje de estambre gris.^[6][21][1]
3. The warp threads after they have been set up on the loom; urdimbre.^[6][21]
4. (botany) A stamen, the male organ of a flower, made up of the anther (antera) and usually a filament.^[6][1]

Word family

• estambrar
• estambrado

Related words

• estameña
• estaminífero
• Latin stamen
• Portuguese estame
• Catalan estam

Usage notes

Estambre is masculine today, but older texts and the Academy's dictionaries from 1843 also treat it as feminine (la estambre de la vida).^[6][19][4] The phrase estambre de la vida “the course or thread of life” is now obsolete.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
3. ^ 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. estambre
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 768
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estambre
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. estambre
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8330
8. ^ a b c Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 744
9. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c 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. estambre
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 351
13. ^ 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. 802
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 625
15. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 502
16. ^ 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. estambre
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 393
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 430
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 323
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. 465
21. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estambre