heroína

heroína¹ heroine

Pronunciation

• /eɾoˈina/, [e.ɾoˈi.na]^[1]

Forms

heroína f (plural heroínas, masculine héroe, masculine plural héroes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the heroine is borrowed from Latin hērōīna (“demigoddess, heroine”), from Ancient Greek ἡρωΐνη (hērōḯnē), the feminine of ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”).^[1][2][3] The DLE derives the feminine directly from Greek, and the DCECH lists it among the learned derivatives of héroe.^[4][5][6] The Greek feminine adds the suffix -ίνη (-ī́nē) to the masculine.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is in Lope de Vega, and the BDELC dates it to the early 17th century.^[6][7] The CDH's first hit is in Lope's Rimas sacras (1614), where a noblewoman is la siempre clarísima heroína “the ever most illustrious heroine”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In 1621 Lope called his patroness, Leonor Pimentel, esta heroína; the Autoridades quotes that line, defines the word as a woman made worthy of eternal fame by her virtue and heroic deeds, and adds that it once meant the daughters and sisters of heroes.^[8][9] Feijoo uses it of the women of Scripture (1726).^[8] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 added the sense “protagonist of a drama, poem or novel”.^[10] The masculine héroe was itself rare until the end of the 16th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1614 – Lope de Vega's Rimas sacras.^[8]
• 1621 – Lope's La Filomena.^[8]
• 1734 – the Autoridades calls it a Latin word.^[9]
• 1813 – first record from the Americas, in Uruguay.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy adds “protagonist of a work of fiction”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heroine: a woman famous for her great deeds.^[12][1]
2. A woman who performs a heroic act.^[12]
3. The female protagonist (protagonista) of a work of fiction.^[12]

heroína² heroin

Pronunciation

• /eɾoˈina/, [e.ɾoˈi.na]^[1]

Forms

heroína f (plural heroínas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the drug is borrowed from French héroïne, according to the DLE.^[4] Wiktionary takes it straight from German Heroin.^[1] Bénaben thinks the Spanish word was probably borrowed from German at the end of the 19th century.^[13] The French word is recorded from 1903 and is itself probably from the German name (1898), since the substance was first made in Germany.^[14]

The German name was the trade name under which the Bayer company patented the drug in 1896, developed as a painkiller by the chemist Felix Hoffmann.^[15][16] Kluge explains it as a coinage from Ancient Greek ἡρώϊος (hērṓïos, “heroic”), in the later sense “strong”, with the chemical suffix -in: a particularly strong medicine.^[16] Pfeifer and the DHLF relate it to ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”), from the heroic exaltation the drug gives.^[15][14] The DTME gives the same explanation, but dates Hoffmann's work to 1897.^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first Spanish dictionary to have the drug is Alemany's of 1917, which adds to the heroine senses a chemical and medical one, “the diacetic ether of morphine”.^[18]

Semantic evolution

The drug was made as a painkiller to replace morphine and codeine; it became a narcotic of abuse in the United States after 1910.^[16][15] The DLE now defines it as an addictive drug obtained from morphine, a bitter white powder with sedative and narcotic properties, and the DTME notes that it is banned for medical use in most countries.^[4][17] Santamaría's Mexican dictionary of 1959 already speaks of its abuse as a narcotic.^[19]

Timeline

• 1896 – Bayer patents the drug as Heroin.^[15]
• 1898 – the German name, as the DHLF dates it.^[14]
• 1903 – French héroïne “the drug”.^[14]
• 1917 – Alemany's dictionary records the Spanish word.^[18]
• 1959 – Santamaría records its use as a narcotic in Mexico.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. heroin: an addictive drug made from morphine (morfina), a bitter white powder with sedative and narcotic effects.^[4][20][1]

Word family

• heroinómano