hambriento

Forms

hambriento (feminine hambrienta, masculine plural hambrientos, feminine plural hambrientas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish famniento, probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *faminentus (“hungry”).^[2][1] Corominas assumes that Vulgar Latin already had this adjective, built on the stem of *famis, the source of hambre, from Latin famēs (“hunger”).^[2] García de Diego instead starts from *famulentus, the form of the REW, which Corominas finds unlikely in its formation, though possible by analogy with somnolentus (“sleepy”).^[3][2] Wikcionario treats it as a Spanish formation, from Spanish hambre + -iento.^[4]

The Old Spanish forms follow those of the noun: after Berceo's form comes fambriento in the Fuero Juzgo, and Nebrija writes the modern form.^[2][5][6] The same Latin adjective gave Portuguese faminto, Galician famento and Asturian famientu, and the dissimilated forms Catalan famolenc and Old Occitan famolent.^[2][1]

De Vaan finds no convincing cognates for the Latin noun; the comparison with fatīgō (“to tire”) is too vague.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo, in the first half of the 13th century, uses famniento “hungry”.^[2][8][9] In the Fuero Juzgo (c. 1254) one born to a hard life mas sera fambriento que farto, “will be hungry more often than full”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija about 1495 gave Latin famelicus and esuritor as its equivalents.^[6] Autoridades defined it as “one who is hungry” and recorded the proverb más discurre un hambriento que cien letrados, “a hungry man thinks harder than a hundred lawyers”, on how need sharpens the wits.^[10] The Academy added the figurative sense “eager, desirous” in 1817.^[11]

Today the word also means “hungry for something”, and as a noun the needy.^[12][13] In the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay it means stingy, and in Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay greedy for possessions.^[14][12][15] New Mexican Spanish has both “hungry” and “stingy, selfish”.^[16]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo's famniento.^[8][2]
• c. 1254 – fambriento in the Fuero Juzgo.^[5]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes hambriento.^[6]
• 1528 – the learned famélico is first recorded.^[8]
• 1588 – first record from the Americas, in the Río de la Plata: desnudos y hambrientos.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias: “one who is hungry”.^[18]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the proverb más discurre un hambriento que cien letrados.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the figurative sense “desirous”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very hungry, famished.^[12][1]
2. Eager, craving something: Llegó a la capital hambriento de aventuras.^[12][13]
3. (Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay) stingy, mean.^[12][14]
4. (Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay) Greedy for possessions.^[14]

Noun

1. A hungry or needy person; in the plural, los hambrientos, the hungry.^[1][13]

Related words

• hambre
• hambrear
• famélico
• jamelgo
• Portuguese faminto

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 312
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *famulentus
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
5. ^ 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. hambriento
6. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 360
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hambre
9. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 251
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 126
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 461
12. ^ a b c d e 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. hambriento
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hambriento
14. ^ 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. hambriento
15. ^ 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. hambriento
16. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 102
17. ^ 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. hambriento
18. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 960