fresco

Forms

fresco (feminine fresca, masculine plural frescos, feminine plural frescas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *friscum, which Vulgar Latin took from Proto-West Germanic *frisk (“new, young, lively, nimble, bold”).^[2][3][1] Corominas calls it a Germanism common to all the western Romance languages, and found in Sardinia as well; although the Germanic word is found only in the western branch, he holds that it was taken not from Frankish but from common West Germanic, through Vulgar Latin.^[2] Bénaben and Wikcionario derive it from Frankish *frisk instead.^[4][5] The Germanic cognates are Old High German frisc, German frisch and Old English fersc.^[2] Orel adds Old Norse ferskr and relates Proto-Germanic *friskaz to *frijaz;^[6] Köbler calls its origin unknown,^[7] and Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *preyskos (“fresh, unsalted”), with phonetic difficulties.^[1]

The same word is Portuguese fresco, Galician fresco, Asturian frescu, Catalan fresc, Occitan fresc and French frais, and the Italian word is the same.^[8][9][10]

The noun for a wall painting is borrowed from Italian fresco: Italian first used it in the phrase for painting on fresh plaster, in the early 15th century, and as a noun from the 16th.^[2][4] Spanish took it first in adverbial phrases, in 1564 and the late 16th century, and then as a noun, at the end of the 16th century.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid has it of a hat just put on: vn sonbrero ... nuevo era e fresco “a hat ... it was new and fresh” (line 2800).^[11][2] The old texts use it only for “recent”: in Berceo and Juan Ruiz it means “newly made”, and the Toledo glossary has pescado fresco “fresh fish”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Corominas finds the sense of temperature only from Nebrija on, and notes that Germanic and Gallo-Romance show the same order of senses.^[2] Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of a stone that smells like fresh fish going off, and a 13th–14th-century Estoria de España of a face growing mas fresca & mas fermosa “fresher and more beautiful”.^[12]

In 1611 Covarrubias listed cool air and weather, fresh bread, fish eaten unsalted, dinero fresco “ready money”, a cool, shady place with water, fresh news and a muger fresca, a plump woman with a fair, ruddy complexion.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 added a person who stays calm in danger, used with ser, estar or quedarse, and light fabrics;^[14] Salvá recorded the ironic está usted fresco “you're in a fine fix”.^[15] The Academy gave the painting sense in 1869.^[16] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 has “brazen, forward”.^[17] In Central America and the Andes a fresco is a soft drink or a fruit drink.^[18][19] In Argentina it can mean “sober”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid, of a new hat.^[3][11]
• 1202–1214 – the form fres[co in the Fuero de Madrid.^[20]
• 1220–1250 – the derivative refrescar in Berceo.^[3][2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of fresh fish.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records frescor and frescura, and the first use of the word for temperature.^[3][2]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, of a healthy, cool land in Tierra Firme.^[21]
• 1564 – pintado de fresco, of wall painting.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias lists the senses of his time.^[13]
• 1708 – fresquista “fresco painter”, in Palomino.^[3][2]
• 1884 – the Academy derives the word from Old High German frisc;^[22] in 1899 from Latin frigidus.^[23]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Moderately cold, cool: Por la tarde corre un aire fresco.^[24][1]
2. That does not make one hot: una camisa fresca de lino.^[24]
3. fresh, recent, just made or picked; also figuratively: pan fresco, noticias frescas.^[24][1]
4. Of food: not frozen or preserved; eaten raw.^[24]
5. Rested, showing no sign of fatigue.^[24]
6. Lively, renewed, original: una prosa fresca.^[24]
7. (colloquial) Unruffled, unmoved by trouble: quedarse tan fresco.^[24][1]
8. (colloquial) cheeky, shameless; also as a noun: Ese chico es un fresco.^[24][1]
9. (Nicaragua) Careless.^[24][18]

Noun

1. Moderate cold, cool air: tomar el fresco.^[24][14]
2. A fresco, a painting done on fresh plaster.^[24][1]
3. (Bolivia, Central America, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela) A soft drink or fruit drink.^[24][18]
4. (nautical) A strong breeze.^[1]

Word family

• frescachón
• frescal
• frescor
• fresquista
• fresquera
• refrescar
• boquifresco
• frescura

Related words

• Portuguese fresco
• Catalan fresc

Usage notes

Al fresco means “in the open air at night” (al sereno); the old de fresco meant “at once”.^[24]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 956
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fresco
4. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. fresco
5. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
10. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. frescu
11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 288
12. ^ 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. fresco
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. 865
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 351
15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 532
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 370
17. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 798
18. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. fresco
19. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 420
20. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
21. ^ 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. fresco
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 509
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 472
24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. fresco