filete

Forms

filete m (plural filetes)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas takes the word, in the sense of a thin strip in a moulding or ornament, as probably borrowed from Italian filetto, which he also sees behind the French word in this sense.^[2] The sense “sirloin” he takes as borrowed from French filet, which Schuchardt says first meant the animal's back and earlier its marrow.^[2] The DLE and Wiktionary derive the whole word from the French, a diminutive of fil (“thread”), and García de Diego from French or Catalan filet.^[3][1][4] Both go back to Latin fīlum (“thread”), whose popular Spanish outcome is hilo.^[1][5][6]

The Latin word continues *fī(s)lo-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- (“sinew, sinew thread”), the word behind the Baltic and Slavic words for “vein, sinew”.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH records the word long before the DCECH's date of 1580.^[8][2] The Corbacho of Alfonso Martínez de Toledo (1438, in a copy of 1466) mentions a hairnet de filetes de flor de açuçena, and the accounts of Isabella the Catholic's treasurer (1477–1491) buy gold thread para los filetes e torçales “for the edgings and twists”.^[8][2] In this first sense the word named a trimming of thread.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The thread sense lasted: ruffs de filete are recorded in Puerto Rico in 1513, and Percyvall in 1591 translated it as “a lace, a bonelace”.^[9][10] Architecture took it up in the 16th century for the slimmest member of a moulding, and Autoridades also recorded the thread edging on collars and cuffs, a thin spit from Martínez Montiño's cookery, and the phrase gastar muchos filetes “to adorn one's talk with wit”.^[8][2][11]

The Academy added the horse's snaffle in 1843, and in 1869 the sirloin and the printer's rule.^[12][13] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 has the thin slice of lean meat or boneless fish and the thread of a screw.^[14] In Cuba the word named the paper strip over the joints of a cigar box, and in the youth speech of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Chile filete means “great, in perfect condition” or, of a person, “good-looking”.^[15][16][17]

Timeline

• 1438 – filetes of thread in the Corbacho (copy of 1466).^[8]
• 1477–1491 – the accounts of Gonzalo de Baeza, the first record in a contemporary manuscript.^[8]
• 1513 – gorgueras de filete in Puerto Rico.^[9]
• 1526 – Diego de Sagredo lists filetes among the mouldings in his Medidas del romano.^[8]
• 1580 – the DCECH's first record of the ornament sense.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades: moulding, edging of thread, thin spit.^[11]
• 1869 – the Academy adds “sirloin”.^[13][2]
• 1917 – Alemany records the slice of meat or fish and the thread of a screw.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thin boneless fillet or slice of lean meat or fish: Pedí un filete de lenguado a la plancha.^[3][1]
2. Sirloin.^[3]
3. (architecture) A narrow flat band in a moulding.^[3][1]
4. A thin decorative line or strip.^[3][18]
5. A thread edging sewn on the border of a garment to protect it.^[3]
6. A small thin spit.^[3]
7. The thread of a screw or nut.^[3][1]
8. (riding) A snaffle bit for training colts.^[3]
9. (printing) A metal rule for separating text and notes; ornamental lines in bookbinding.^[3]
10. (nautical) A thin esparto cord used to furl lateen sails.^[3]

Adjective

1. (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Chile; youth slang) Great, in perfect condition; of a person, good-looking.^[16][17]

Word family

• filetear
• filetón

Related words

• hilo
• filo
• fila
• Latin fīlum
• French filet
• Italian filetto

Usage notes

Filete ruso is, in Spain, a fried patty of minced meat with parsley and garlic.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 361
3. ^ 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. filete
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 2793
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 308
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. filum
7. ^ 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. filum
8. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. filete
9. ^ 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. filet
10. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 142
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 752
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 343
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 360
14. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 773
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 639
16. ^ 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. filete
17. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. filete
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. filete