estrella

Forms

estrella f (plural estrellas)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote estrela and strela, the latter in the Auto de los Reyes Magos.^[2][3] The older form estella, without the r, survived in Aragon: the Cronicón Villarense of about 1210 has estellas.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish estrella, inherited from Latin stēlla (“star”).^[4][5][6][1] Wiktionary suggests that it went through a regional Latin *strēlla.^[1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese estrela, Galician estrela, Asturian estrella, Catalan estel, French étoile, Italian stella and Romanian stea.^[7][8][1] Catalan also has estela, while estrella is, according to Corominas, a Castilianism, unknown in the Middle Ages.^[4]

Meyer-Lübke and García de Diego put the ⟨r⟩ after ⟨st⟩ down to the influence of Latin astrum (“star”).^[7][8] Corominas rejects this, since the Latin word was never a popular word: for him, as for Menéndez Pidal, the ⟨r⟩ is purely phonetic, the other liquid of the word anticipated, as in estrellar beside estallar and in registro or rastrojo.^[4][5] The Latin /ll/ became the Spanish palatal ⟨ll⟩.^[1]

stēlla goes back to *stērlā and to the PIE word for “star”, Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr.^[9] De Vaan sees an Italo-Celtic formation with ⟨l⟩, shared by Old Irish sell (“iris”); the root is that of Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has the word in Jimena's prayer: fezist estrellas e luna, e el sol pora escalentar “you made the stars and the moon, and the sun to give warmth”.^[3][5][4] The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) spells it strela, for the star of Bethlehem.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish sailors “went by the stars” (andan a estrellas, Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca), and Berceo calls the Virgin estrella de la mar “star of the sea”.^[3][10] Alfonso X's Lapidario names a stone after the star it resembles.^[11]

By the Golden Age the figurative senses were in place: the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes the Quijote for “destiny” (por donde su estrella le llama) and Quevedo for the white spot on a horse's forehead.^[12] The horse with a star on its forehead is recorded in Mexico in 1551.^[13] Covarrubias distinguished the fixed stars from the planets.^[14] The modern dictionaries add the star of the stage and screen, the stars of rank and of hotels, and the use in apposition for the most outstanding thing of its kind.^[6][15]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has estrellas.^[3][5]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos spells strela.^[3]
• c. 1210 – the Aragonese Cronicón Villarense has estellas, without the r.^[4]
• c. 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the word.^[11]
• 1495 – the derivative estrellado “strewn with stars” is first recorded.^[5]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin stella, astrum and aster.^[16]
• 1548 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of taking the height of the pole star with an astrolabe.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias remarks that Castilian inserted an r into the Latin word.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “destiny” and “white spot on a horse's forehead”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin stella.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A star: each of the heavenly bodies that shine at night with their own light.^[6][1]
2. A star shape, with rays from a common centre or a circle ringed with points; an object of that shape.^[6][1]
3. A star-shaped badge of rank on a military officer's uniform; a star marking the category of a hotel: un hotel de cinco estrellas.^[6][15]
4. fate, destiny: tener buena estrella.^[6][1]
5. A celebrity, a person outstanding in their profession, especially in show business: una estrella de la canción.^[6][1]
6. A white spot on the forehead of some horses and mares.^[6][15]
7. (in apposition) The most outstanding of its kind: el fichaje estrella del equipo.^[6]
8. (astronomy) A celestial body that emits light and heat produced by thermonuclear reactions, such as the Sun.^[6]
9. (military) A star-shaped field fort.^[6]
10. (in the plural) Small star-shaped pasta for soup.^[6]
11. (heraldry) A mullet.^[1]

Word family

• Estrella
• estrellado
• estrellar
• estrellita
• estrellón
• estrellamar

Related words

• estelar
• constelación
• Latin stella
• Portuguese estrela

Usage notes

Set phrases include estrella fugaz “shooting star”, estrella polar “pole star”, estrella de mar “starfish” and nacer con estrella “to be born lucky”.^[1] As a name, Estrella is a woman's given name, the equivalent of Stella.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. estrella
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. estrella
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 805
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estrella
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. estrella
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6327
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 245
11. ^ 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. estrella
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. estrella
13. ^ 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. estrella
14. ^ 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. 812
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estrella
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 352
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 471