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fritura

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word fritura

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1606 Alonso de Ledesma, Conceptos espirituales More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origin
Latin frīgō

Pronunciation

  • /fɾiˈtuɾa/, [fɾiˈt̪u.ɾa][1]

Forms

fritura f (plural frituras)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish frito + -ura, the past participle of freír with the noun suffix of result.[2][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that verb, beside the older freidura that Nebrija records.[4][5] Wiktionary instead derives it from Vulgar Latin *frīctūra, which would make it a sister of Portuguese fritura, French friture, Italian frittura and Romanian friptură, and analyses the Spanish word as fritar with the same suffix.[1]

The verb continues Latin frīgō (“to roast”).[4][5] De Vaan notes that it is very close to Ancient Greek φρῡ́γω (phrū́gō, “to roast”) in form and meaning, but the two cannot be matched by the sound laws, so the Latin verb may be a loan from Greek or from a third language.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is in a religious poem of 1606, where a fritura de sartén “pan fry” stands for a dish of fried food.[7] In 1611 Martínez Montiño's cookery book names the frituras beside stewing as the two usual ways of cooking fish.[7]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the same as fritada “a dish of fried things” and noted that it was no longer much used.[8] The Academy kept that one-word definition through the 19th century.[9][10] Today the DLE defines it as a set of fried things.[2]

In the Caribbean it names particular dishes: in Cuba and the Dominican Republic a fritter of flour and egg mixed with brains, squash, cassava, maize or fish and fried in lard.[11][2] In Puerto Rico it covers any pan-fried food such as fish or ripe plantains, and in the Dominican Republic also a street stall that sells fried food.[12][13] In the Canaries a fritura is a sautéed mixture of onion, tomato, garlic and pepper added to stews.[14][15] Moliner also records the plural for crackling interference on the radio, which sounds like frying.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1495 – Nebrija records the older derivative freidura.[4]
  • 1606 – first record of fritura, in Alonso de Ledesma's Conceptos espirituales.[7]
  • 1611 – Martínez Montiño's Arte de cozina uses the plural frituras for fried dishes of fish.[7]
  • 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades equates it with fritada, a word Corominas dates from the same dictionary.[8][5]
  • 1879 – first record in the Americas, in Chile.[17]
  • 1884 – the Academy still defines it only as fritada.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dish of fried food, several things fried together: Pedimos una fritura variada para compartir.[2][1]
  2. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) A fritter of flour and egg mixed with other ingredients and fried in lard.[2][11]
  3. (Canary Islands) A sautéed mixture of onion, tomato and garlic added to stews; a sofrito.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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. fritura
  3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 952
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. freír
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fritura
  8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 800
  9. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 352
  10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 510
  11. ^ 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. fritura
  12. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. fritura
  13. ^ 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. fritura
  14. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. fritura
  15. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. fritura
  16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fritura
  17. ^ 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. fritura
Cite this entry

“Fritura.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/fritura. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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