estupendo

Forms

estupendo (feminine estupenda, masculine plural estupendos, feminine plural estupendas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stupendus (“astonishing, marvellous”), first recorded about 1570.^[2][3][1] The Latin word is the gerundive of stupeō (“to be stunned, amazed”), literally “to be wondered at”.^[2][4] Wiktionary labels the word Late Latin.^[1] From the same verb Spanish has estupor and estúpido.^[2][5]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *stupē- (“to be stunned”) and a stative formation Proto-Indo-European *stup-eh₁- of a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to hit, push”.^[6][1] The same Latin word is Italian stupendo, recorded in the 14th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from about 1570.^[2] Cervantes has it in the Quijote as “astonishing, prodigious”: estupenda batalla and tu ánimo estupendo.^[8][9] A text from Lima of 1608 calls cannibalism a peccado estupendo “monstrous sin”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades and the Academy's dictionaries to 2001 defined it as “admirable, astonishing, amazing”.^[9][11][12] Domínguez in 1846–1847 noted an extended colloquial sense “famous, magnificent”, and today the usual sense is simply “very good”.^[13][3][14] The 2001 edition recorded its use as an adverb, “very well”, which the DLE keeps.^[12][3]

Timeline

• c. 1570 – first record.^[2][15]
• 1608 – the first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades quotes Ribadeneyra and the Quijote.^[9]
• 1846–1847 – Domínguez records the colloquial sense “famous, magnificent”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin stupendus.^[16]
• 2001 – the Academy records the use as an adverb.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. admirable, astonishing, stupendous.^[3][1]
2. Very good, great, marvellous: Hizo un día estupendo.^[3][1]

Adverb

1. Very well: Nos fue estupendo en la playa.^[3]

Word family

• estupendamente

Related words

• estupor
• estúpido
• Latin stupeō
• Italian stupendo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estúpido
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. estupendo
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 289
5. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. estupendo
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. stupeō
7. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. stupire
8. ^ 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. 510
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 660
10. ^ 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. estupendo
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 399
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. estupendo
13. ^ a b 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. 773
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estupendo
15. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 737
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 473