gloria

Forms

gloria f (plural glorias)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin glōria (“fame, renown”), through gloria in Old Spanish.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas calls it an old and well-rooted learned word, in general use already in the Middle Ages, though at first mostly in church language.^[2] In Christian Latin the word had taken the senses “majesty of God” and “eternal bliss”.^[5][6] The same Latin word gave French gloire, Italian gloria and English glory.^[7][6]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[1] One explanation, which de Vaan reports as accepted by some scholars and rejected by others, derives it from Proto-Italic *gnōria (“knowledge, fame”), related to gnārus (“known”) and ignōrō, from the root Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”); words for “glory” in Indo-European languages usually come from “reputation, what is heard”.^[8][1] The OLD marks the etymology as doubtful.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the word to Berceo, and the BDELC to 1220–1250.^[2][3] The CDH has an earlier hit in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where Moses tells the people that next morning they will see la gloria del Criador “the glory of the Creator”.^[10][11] In Berceo the word means heaven, the bliss of the blessed (la gloria de Dios nuestro sennor), worldly vainglory (toda gloria del mundo), and contentment or pleasure.^[12][10]

Semantic evolution

The prose of Alfonso X already has the main senses: the vision of God, the heavenly state, “reputation, fame and honour” and “keen pleasure” (da me gloria “it gives me joy”).^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it with Cicero's words as frequent fame with praise, and added Soli Deo honor et gloria.^[14] The Autoridades has fame from a heroic deed, the theological bliss of the blessed, and keen pleasure, as when one says that a glutton's gloria is eating.^[15]

The Academy added concrete senses: a thin silk fabric for women's mantles in 1843, and a pastry of puff dough filled with egg yolk and sweet cream by 1869.^[16][17] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 also has the painter's opening of the heavens.^[18] In Castile and León gloria is also a floor heated from a vaulted space below in which straw is burnt; the Autoridades placed this hearth in Tierra de Campos.^[19][4] In the theatre it is each curtain call.^[4] As a masculine noun it names the Gloria in excelsis of the Mass and the doxology after the psalms.^[4][20]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – la gloria del Criador in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century copy).^[10]
• 1220–1250 – common in Berceo, for heaven and for worldly glory.^[3][12]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas uses it of the vision of God.^[13]
• 1272–1275 – the General estoria uses it for “fame, honour”.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin gloria, fama and laus.^[21]
• 1528 – first records from the Americas, in Mexico City and Santo Domingo.^[22]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it after Cicero.^[14]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “majesty, splendour” and the silk fabric.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology Del lat. gloria.^[23]

Meanings

Noun

1. fame, glory: great reputation and honour won by good deeds or great qualities.^[4][1]
2. Delight, great pleasure: Da gloria oír a ese coro.^[4]
3. A person or thing that brings honour to others: Esa novelista es una gloria del país.^[4]
4. Majesty, splendour, magnificence.^[4]
5. A rolled pastry of puff dough filled with egg yolk, blancmange and sugar.^[4]
6. (regional) A grate for warming oneself and cooking; a floor over a vaulted space where straw is burnt to heat the room.^[4][19]
7. (theatre) A curtain call.^[4]
8. (painting) An opening of the heavens showing angels and rays of light.^[4]
9. (Christianity) The state of the blessed in heaven; heaven itself.^[4][24]
10. (masculine) The Gloria in excelsis Deo of the Mass; the doxology said after the psalms and prayers.^[4]

Word family

• glorioso
• vanagloria

Related words

• gloriarse
• glorificar
• Latin gloria

Usage notes

Set phrases include vieja gloria “a former star” and saber a gloria “to taste wonderful”.^[4] Gloria is also a woman's name.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 155
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gloria
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. gloria
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. gloria
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gloire
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 323
8. ^ 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. glōria
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. glōria
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. gloria
11. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. gloria
12. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 390
13. ^ a b c 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. gloria
14. ^ 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. 915
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. gloria
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 366
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 387
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 837
19. ^ a b Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. gloria
20. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. gloria
21. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 357
22. ^ 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. gloria
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 533
24. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gloria