guapo

Forms

guapo (feminine guapa, masculine plural guapos, feminine plural guapas, superlative guapísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Old French wape, a dialectal and slang Old French word, also gape, meaning “insipid” (from 1223), then “rascal” and “idler”, which goes back to Latin vappa (“flat wine; worthless fellow”).^[2][3][1] The DHLF calls the French word Old Picard: it was said of insipid food and of weakened people, and was used as an insult in 1379.^[4] According to Corominas the initial ⟨gu-⟩ reflects the influence of the Germanic verb Proto-Germanic *hwapjaną (“to spoil, turn sour”), which he compares with Middle High German verwepfen (“to go bad”).^[2][3][5] Wiktionary considers this influence possible but not necessary.^[1] The DLE derives the word directly from the Latin, and Moliner and Gómez de Silva give only the Latin word.^[6][7][8]

The Latin word meant wine that had gone flat;^[9][10] Pliny says that the word was also an insult for a man who had degenerated.^[9][10] It is related to vapidus (“flat, spoilt”), and perhaps to vapor (“steam”).^[9][10] Kroonen connects the Germanic verb with the same European root as the Latin word for steam.^[5]

The word French gouape “hooligan”, recorded from 1840, is a borrowing back from Spanish through Provençal.^[4][1] The Academy suggested a Greek origin with a question mark in 1884 and 1899, and Alemany in 1917 was the first to propose the etymology now accepted, with “perhaps”.^[11][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in the interludes of Quiñones de Benavente (died 1651), where guapo means “pimp, ruffian”: hembras que arden y tiritan / por la virtud de sus guapos “women who burn and shiver for the prowess of their pimps”.^[2] He dates this sense to about 1640.^[3] Bartolomé de Góngora, in 1656, speaks of los guapos que estaban echando tragos y valentías “the toughs who were knocking back drinks and bragging”.^[2] The DHLF, by contrast, has a Spanish slang guapo “brigand” from the 15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From “ruffian” the word moved to “bold, valiant”, the first sense in the Diccionario de Autoridades (1734), which also gives “elegant, well turned out” and, in picaresque style, “a lover who courts a woman”.^[3][14] The sense “good-looking” arose in Spain at the end of the 18th century, and Corominas finds it in Leandro Fernández de Moratín; the Academy added it in 1843.^[2][15] He finds the step from “pimp” to “gallant, well dressed” and then to “good-looking” easy to understand.^[2] Today guapo is the most popular Spanish word for “good-looking”, while in the Americas the sense “brave” lives on.^[2][3]

The Latin American senses are many: “brave, daring” in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina, “hard-working” in Bolivia, Paraguay and the River Plate, “severe, strict” in Chile, “quarrelsome bully” in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and “angry” in the Dominican Republic.^{[16][17][18][1]} Bayo's vocabulary of the River Plate (1910) gives guapo only the sense “brave, energetic for work”.^[19] Catalan has guapo as a well-rooted castilianism, and Cebuano and Bikol have gwapo.^[2][1] English wop (1912) may come from Neapolitan guappo “dandy”, which is said to be from Spanish guapo.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 1640 – Quiñones de Benavente uses guapo for “pimp, ruffian”.^[3][2]
• 1656 – guapería is recorded, and Bartolomé de Góngora writes of guapos drinking and bragging.^[3][2]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has “brave”, “elegant” and “suitor”;^[14] guapetón and guapeza are recorded the same year.^[3][14]
• end of the 18th century – “good-looking” in Moratín.^[2][3]
• 1840 – French gouape is borrowed from Spanish through Provençal.^[4]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the sense “good-looking”.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy first proposes an etymology, a Greek one with a question mark.^[11]
• 1912 – English wop, perhaps through Neapolitan from guapo.^[20]
• 1917 – Alemany suggests Latin vappa and records the Chilean senses “brave” and “severe”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Good-looking, handsome, pretty: Su hermana es muy guapa.^[6][7][1]
2. Smartly dressed, dressed up: ¡Qué guapo vas hoy!^[6][21]
3. (colloquial) Bold, brave and resolute, scorning danger; also as a noun.^[6][7]
4. (colloquial) Used as a term of address, affectionate or, with a certain tone, irritated: Anda, guapa, pásame la sal.^[6][7]
5. (colloquial, Spain) Of things: nice, cool.^[7][1]
6. (Dominican Republic) Angry, upset.^[18][1]
7. (Chile) Strict, severe.^[16][17]

Noun

1. A quarrelsome bully, a swaggerer.^[6][7]
2. (obsolete, popular) A man who courts a woman.^[6]
3. (in the plural, colloquial) One's best clothes, worn on feast days and special occasions.^[6][7]

Word family

• guapear
• guapería
• guapetón
• guapeza
• aguapar
• guapamente
• guaperas
• guapete
• guapote

Related words

• Latin vappa
• French gouape

Usage notes

A separate noun guapo names an edible root of Venezuela;^[22][1] Alvarado records it as a word of the Guahibos.^[22][1] It is recorded in Venezuela in 1578 and in New Granada in 1588.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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, 243
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. guapo
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gouape
5. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 263
6. ^ 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. guapo
7. ^ a b c d e f g Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. guapo
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. guapo
9. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vappa
10. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. vappa
11. ^ 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. 544
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 506
13. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 857
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 87
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 374
16. ^ 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. guapo
17. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 57
18. ^ a b 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. guapo
19. ^ Bayo, Ciro (1910), Vocabulario criollo-español sud-americano, Madrid: Hernando, p. 103
20. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. guapo
22. ^ a b Alvarado, Lisandro (1921), Glosario de voces indígenas de Venezuela, Caracas: Victoria, p. 153
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. guapo