grito

Forms

grito m (plural gritos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish gritar (“to shout”).^[2][3][4][5] Corominas records the noun (1220–1250) a century earlier than the verb (1335).^[3]

The verb is shared by the western Romance languages, as Catalan cridar, French crier and Italian gridare, and its origin is uncertain.^[3] Corominas takes it to be probably from Latin quirītāre (“to cry out for help, raise an outcry”), which must have been shortened in Vulgar Latin to *crītāre.^[3] The DLE derives it straight from the Latin verb, and Wiktionary from the Vulgar Latin form.^[6][1] Castilian and Portuguese keep the Latin /t/ between vowels where Catalan voices it.^[3] Corominas suggests that the expressive character of the word may explain this irregularity.^[3][7] A voiced form Old Spanish cridar is recorded in old texts of Castile and Aragon.^[4]

The Latin verb was understood already in antiquity as “to call on the Quirites”, the Roman citizens, for help: Varro defines it so.^[8][9] Wiktionary also mentions a possible link with queror (“to complain”) or with an onomatopoeic verb for the squeal of a pig, and the OLD lists a separate onomatopoeic homonym for the cry of the boar.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the works of Gonzalo de Berceo, which survive in later copies.^[3][10] In the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy) a demon makes a possessed man dar un grito agudo “give a shrill cry”.^[10][11] The first record in a text without a later copy is Alfonso X's Estoria de España (1270–1284), where an army comes on dando tan grandes uozes & tan grandes gritos “raising such great shouts and cries”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija's Vocabulario (c. 1495) gives the Latin equivalents quiritatus and vociferatio.^[12][13] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined the word as a voice strained and raised “not by art but naturally”, and recorded the phrase a grito herido “at the top of one's voice”.^[14] The Academy's 1817 dictionary added poner el grito en el cielo, to cry out loudly in complaint at some pain or grief.^[15] In 1846 Domínguez recorded dar el grito for raising the alarm or starting a revolt, after the shouts with which a rising proclaimed its cause, and the DLE now has a sense “a vehement expression of a collective feeling”.^[16][2]

In thieves' cant grito meant “wheat”, a metathesis of trigo.^[17][18] Hidalgo listed it in 1609 and the Academy kept it with the label Germanía through the 19th century.^{[19][17][15][18]} The modern phrase el último grito is the latest novelty in fashion or another field.^[2][20] In Panama the word names the long whoop of country people at festivals or at work.^[21] Judeo-Spanish uses it also for a loud reproach.^[22]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in the works of Gonzalo de Berceo.^[3][10]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España has the plural gritos beside uozes.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija translates it quiritatus, vociferatio.^[13][12]
• 1573 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, in the phrase a voz en grito.^[23]
• 1609 – Hidalgo's glossary of thieves' cant gives grito “wheat”.^[19]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records a grito herido.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary adds poner el grito en el cielo.^[15]
• 1846 – Domínguez records dar el grito for starting a revolt.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy derives the noun from gritar.^[24]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loud, strained cry; a shout, scream or yell: Se oyó un grito en la escalera.^[2][1]
2. Words uttered in a very loud voice.^[2][20]
3. A vehement expression of a feeling shared by many people.^[2]
4. The creaking of polar sea ice when pressure is about to break it.^[2]
5. (Panama) The long whoop of country people at festivals or while travelling and working.^[21]

Related words

• gritar
• gritería
• griterío
• Italian grido

Usage notes

Common phrases are a voz en grito and a grito pelado “at the top of one's voice”, poner el grito en el cielo “to complain loudly, be indignant”, pedir a gritos “to be crying out for something” and el último grito “the latest thing”.^[2][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. grito
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. gritar
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. grito
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. grito
6. ^ 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. gritar
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 633
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. grito
11. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. grito
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 358
13. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 81
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 451
16. ^ a b 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. 895
17. ^ a b Salillas, Rafael (1896), El delincuente español: el lenguaje, Madrid: Victoriano Suárez, p. 294
18. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
19. ^ a b Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 181
20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. grito
21. ^ 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. grito
22. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. grito
23. ^ 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. grito
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 504