giro

Forms

giro m (plural giros)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin gȳrus (“circle; circular course”), which is from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas calls it a rare and very learned word in the Golden Age, typical of the Gongorine style and missing from Nebrija, Percyvall, Oudin, Covarrubias and the Quijote; it is still a learned word today.^[2]

The sense “turn of phrase” is a calque of French tour, properly “turn”, which Baralt still objected to.^[2][3][5] The commercial sense “transfer of funds” is a noun formed from the verb, from Spanish girar, in its sense “to draw a bill”.^[2][3]

The same word is Portuguese giro, recorded from the 15th century, and Italian giro.^[6][1] In Latin it was first the circular track on which horses were trained or raced.^[7] The Greek noun is a derivative of the adjective γυρός (gūrós, “round, curved”);^[8][1] Beekes finds a connection with words for “hand” or “bent” quite possible, and Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to curve, bend”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas found the word first about the middle of the 15th century in Diego de Burgos, after C. C. Smith, and then in Alonso de Palencia's dictionary of 1490: Cyclus es redondés o giro o círculo “cyclus is roundness or turn or circle”, and son spire los giros de las serpientes quando se contuercen “spirae are the coils of snakes when they twist”.^[2] The first sense was thus “circle, circular turn”, which Suárez de Figueroa still used in 1615 for the circle of the eye.^[2] The earliest hits in the CDH are the place name Girona and the surname Girón, not the word.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades sends the reader to the spelling gyro, and Terreros spells it jiro, “turn, circuit, circle”.^[10][11] The Academy in 1843 has “circular movement”, “circulation of bills of exchange” and also, for the homograph, “threat, bravado”.^[12] In 1869 it adds the act of turning, the direction given to a business, and the giros of language or style, the structure of a phrase.^[13] Corominas dates this last sense to 1868 and to the Academy's 1884 edition.^[2] The Academy gives the etymology from 1899.^[14]

Today the DLE has the turn itself, a change of direction, the turn of phrase, the transfer of money by draft or money order (giro postal) and the whole business of a firm.^[4] In the Americas the LHA records it from 1746, in Mexico, and in 1776 in Guatemala for a line of business.^[15] In Argentina it is also a short stroll.^[16] Ladino has the word as djiro, which Nehama gives as “turn, stroll, turnover” and traces to Portuguese.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – Diego de Burgos, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia uses it for a circle and for the coils of a snake.^[2]
• 1615 – Suárez de Figueroa uses it for the circle of the eye.^[2]
• 1734 – the sense “transfer of funds”.^[3]
• 1746 – the first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros spells it jiro.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy records the circulation of bills of exchange.^[12]
• 1868 – the sense “turn of phrase”, after French tour.^[2][3]
• 1869 – the Academy enters the giros of language and the direction of a business.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology, from Latin gyrus and Greek.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turn, rotation: the act of turning: El patinador hizo tres giros en el aire.^[4][1]
2. A change of direction; the turn taken by a matter or a conversation: El juicio cambió de giro con la nueva prueba.^[4][18][1]
3. A turn of phrase: a particular structure or ordering of words in a phrase.^[4][1][18]
4. (commerce) A transfer of money by draft, money order or the like: Le mandó el dinero por giro postal.^[4][1]
5. (commerce) The business or operations of a firm; its line of business.^[4][1]
6. (Argentina) A short walk or stroll.^[16]

Word family

• giro postal

Related words

• girar
• girasol
• giróscopo
• Latin gȳrus
• Portuguese giro

Usage notes

A second giro, of uncertain origin, meant “gash or scar on the face” about 1640 and then “threat, bravado” (1734). As an adjective it meant “handsome, excellent” (1734), and in the south of Spain and the Americas it names a fighting cock of a particular colouring (1836).^[3][19] Corominas thinks it may be the same word as giro “turn”, through the idea of a twist, but leaves the question open.^[3] In Mexico the adjective still means “hale, vigorous” and “bold”.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 150
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. giro
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. giro
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. giro
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1686
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 51
11. ^ a b 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. 4, 66
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 365
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 386
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 494
15. ^ 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. giro
16. ^ 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. giro
17. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. giro
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
19. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 151