gordo

Forms

gordo (feminine gorda, masculine plural gordos, feminine plural gordas, superlative gordísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish gordo, inherited from Latin gurdus (“blunt, dull; stupid”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas traces the meaning from “blunted” to “thick” and then to “fat”.^[2][3] In Latin the sense “stupid” is recorded first and “blunted” only from the 4th century, but the Romance languages know only the latter.^[2]

The Latin word appears perhaps in the comic playwright Laberius, and is foreign to the classical writers.^[2] Quintilian reports having heard that the word, used by the common people for “dullards”, came from Spain.^[2][5] Corominas sees no sufficient reason to doubt him, and suggests an Iberian or Celtic origin.^[2] He compares the Gaulish personal name ⟨Gurdonicus⟩ and Welsh gwrdd (“strong”), while Basque gurdo (“soft, plump”) seems to be a Romance loan.^[2] De Vaan finds no proof of a Spanish source and suggests an inherited Proto-Italic *gword-o- (“heavy, stubborn”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥d-o-, related to Ancient Greek βραδύς (bradús, “slow”) and Lithuanian gurdùs.^[6][1]

The word is Portuguese gordo, Galician gordo and Asturian gordu.^[7][8][2] Catalan gord, a dialect word, means “hard”, “coarse” or “fat”.^[9][2] French gourd means “numb”, while Italian ingordo means “greedy”.^[2][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a nickname the word appears in charters of 1124, 1129 and 1148, and a man called Gordonzello in a document of 1042.^[2][3][12] The first record of the adjective in a Spanish text is the Moamín, the book of hunting animals translated for Alfonso X, in a manuscript of 1250.^[13] The Lapidario (1250–1279) describes the figure of a fat woman, figura de mugier gorda.^[14] Corominas cites the adjective first from Juan Ruiz and the Conde Lucanor.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses gordo for “fat, bulky”, “thick” (of a neck) and “dense”, and as a noun for “thickness”.^[14] Covarrubias derived it from Latin lardum “bacon”, but also cited Poza's reference to Quintilian.^[15] He records tener la lengua gorda “to be tipsy”, and the contrast of carne gorda with carne magra.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades also has the noun gordo “suet, fat of meat”.^[16]

The Academy's 1843 dictionary gave the figurative sense “rich and powerful”, the obsolete “dull, stupid” and hablar gordo “to speak arrogantly”.^[17] Domínguez in 1846 recorded hacer la vista gorda “to turn a blind eye”.^[18] Alemany in 1917 listed premio gordo, the top lottery prize, now simply el gordo.^[19][4] In Bolivia and Chile gorda means “pregnant”, and in Mexico a gorda is a thick maize tortilla.^[4] In the Dominican Republic gordo means “rich”.^[20][21] Wiktionary takes French gourde, the Haitian currency, from the Spanish word.^[1]

Timeline

• 1042 – the personal name Gordonzello.^[2]
• 1124 – first record, as a nickname in a charter.^[2][3]
• 1250 – the adjective in the Moamín.^[13]
• c. 1250 – the noun gordura in the Setenario.^[2][3]
• 1251 – the verb engordar in Calila e Dimna.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario and Estoria de España use it for “fat” and “thick”.^[14]
• 1513 – the derivative gordal, of large olives.^[2][3]
• 1516 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[22]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records gordiflón and the phrase tener la lengua gorda.^[3][15]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary gives the figurative “rich and powerful”.^[17]
• 1884 – gordinflón enters the Academy's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1917 – Alemany records premio gordo.^[19]

Meanings

Adjective

1. fat, plump; also as a noun, a fat person: un gato muy gordo.^[4][1]
2. Very bulky and large.^[4]
3. Of meat: fatty, greasy.^[4]
4. Thicker than usual for its kind: una cuerda gorda.^[4][1]
5. (colloquial) Very big, serious or out of the ordinary: Pasó algo gordo.^[4]
6. (Bolivia, Chile, colloquial) Of a woman: pregnant.^[4]
7. (obsolete) Dull, stupid.^[4]

Noun

1. suet, the fat of meat.^[4][23]
2. (colloquial) The top prize in a lottery, el gordo.^[4][1]
3. (Mexico, feminine) A thick maize tortilla.^[4]
4. (endearing) A term of affection, “honey”.^[1]

Word family

• gordal
• gordura
• engordar
• regordete
• gordinflón
• gordito

Related words

• Latin gurdus
• Portuguese gordo
• French gourd

Usage notes

Common phrases include caer gordo “to be disliked”, hacer la vista gorda “to turn a blind eye” and armarse la gorda “for a row to break out”.^[23][4] Moliner notes that polite speech prefers grueso for people.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 173
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gordo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. gordo
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. gurdus
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. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1704
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. gordu
9. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 565
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gourd
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3930
12. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. gordo
13. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. gordo
14. ^ 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. gordo
15. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 920
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 61
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 367
18. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 883
19. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 842
20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. gordo
21. ^ 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. gordo
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. gordo
23. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gordo