fibra

Forms

fibra f (plural fibras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fibra (“filament of a plant; lobe of the liver”), a learned word beside the inherited hebra, which continues the same Latin noun.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas dates the learned form from Quevedo, at the start of the 17th century, while the popular word is recorded from 1490.^[2][3] García de Diego lists the popular outcomes of the Latin word, among them Portuguese fevera, Asturian freba and Old Spanish febra, a form he also gives for Aragonese and Galician-Portuguese, and calls the Castilian form a learned word.^[5][6]

The learned word has the same form in Catalan fibra, first recorded in 1803, and in Portuguese fibra, recorded from the 18th century.^[7][8] French fibre was taken from the Latin noun in 1372.^[9]

The origin of the Latin noun is not settled.^[10][11] The OLD and Wiktionary connect it, with doubt, with findō (“to split”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”).^[11][1] De Vaan rejects the older link with fīlum (“thread”), whose long vowel does not fit, and suggests that the irregular variation between the noun and its derivative fimbriae (“fringe”) may point to a loanword.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record of the Spanish word is the 1511 translation of Tirant lo Blanch, where the straps of an armour do not break because they are made of fibra de cáñamo crudo “raw hemp fibre”.^[12] Earlier hits are Latin: Alfonso de Palencia (1490) quotes a Latin passage with fibras iecinorum “the lobes of the liver”, and Nebrija (c. 1495) gives fibra as the Latin for a thin vein of blood.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word named thin veins in ore and in leaves, and in medicine the threads of flesh in a ligament; poets such as Lope de Vega used it for a slender thread.^[12] In the 18th century Terreros labelled it an anatomical word, for the filaments of which membranes and muscles are woven.^[14] The Academy's dictionaries defined the filaments of animal bodies and of plants, and the 1869 edition added the figurative sense “vigour, energy, toughness”.^[15][16] The 1899 edition added the fibres of minerals such as asbestos.^[17]

Modern Spanish uses the word for synthetic textile fibres, for industrial filaments (fibra de vidrio, fibra de carbono), for dietary fibre and for a person's feelings, as in tocar la fibra sensible.^[4][18] In Argentina and Uruguay fibra is also a felt-tip pen.^[19]

Timeline

• 1511 – the translation of Tirant lo Blanch speaks of fibra de cáñamo “hemp fibre”.^[12]
• 1569 – Pérez de Vargas calls the small veins of ore fibras.^[12]
• 1598 – Lope de Vega uses the word in La Dragontea.^[12]
• early 17th century – Corominas's first record, in Quevedo.^[2][3]
• 1621 – the derivative fibroso is first recorded.^[2]
• 1758 – the first record from the Americas, in Venezuela: fibras o hilachas delgadas.^[20]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary adds the figurative sense “vigour, energy”.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin fibra.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fibre: each of the filaments that make up animal or plant tissues (tejido): la fibra muscular.^[4][1]
2. Each of the filaments in the texture of some minerals, such as asbestos (amianto).^[4]
3. A synthetic textile product, as opposed to a natural one.^[4][1]
4. A synthetic filament with industrial uses: fibra de vidrio “fibreglass”, fibra de carbono.^[4][1]
5. The small, fine roots of plants.^[4]
6. Dietary fibre: the fibrous part of some foods, which helps digestion: El pan integral tiene más fibra.^[4][1]
7. Vigour, energy and toughness.^[4][18]
8. Feeling, sensitivity.^[4]
9. (Argentina, Uruguay) A felt-tip pen.^[19]

Word family

• fibrina
• fibroma
• fibromialgia
• fibroso

Related words

• fibrilar
• hebra
• enhebrar
• Latin fibra
• French fibre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 335
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hebra
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. fibra
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2758
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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, 1009
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1555
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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. fibra
13. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. fibra
14. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 158
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 415
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 358
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 458
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fibra
19. ^ 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. fibra
20. ^ 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. fibra
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 494