hiedra

Forms

hiedra f (plural hiedras)^[1] Old Spanish wrote yedra (also ydria), and Nebrija iedra;^[2][3][4] yedra is still used beside hiedra.^[2][3][4] Regional forms include Asturian edra and yedra, Alavese yera and Aragonese liedra.^[3][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish yedra, inherited from Latin hedera (“ivy”).^[3][7][1][8] The same Latin word is Portuguese hera, Galician hedra, Catalan heura, Italian edera and Romanian iederă.^[3][9][1] Valencian edra keeps the /d/ and is probably of Mozarabic origin, Corominas thinks.^[3] French lierre fused the definite article with Old French ierre.^[10][11]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[1][12] Ancient grammarians tied it to holding fast, and some scholars derive it from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to seize, grasp”), the root of prehendō, so that ivy would be “the grabbing one”.^[13][1][14] De Vaan calls this only a guess, because the word's morphology has no parallel.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first record is yedra in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (1200–1250).^[2] Corominas's first record is the Primera crónica general of about 1295: et aquella hermita estaua toda cubierta de una yedra “and that hermitage was all covered with ivy”.^[3][7][15]

Semantic evolution

Juan del Encina, at the end of the 15th century, shows the Prudence of his poem de hiedra coronada “crowned with ivy”.^[16] Andrés Laguna's Dioscorides, quoted in the Diccionario de Autoridades, notes its medicinal uses, and the same dictionary records a Riojan use of hiedra for the second hoeing of the vineyards.^[17][18] The Academy's 1884 edition added the hiedra terrestre, a creeping plant with ivy-like leaves.^[8]

In the Americas the word is recorded from 1549, and was soon applied to local climbers.^[19] In Mexico it names Cobaea scandens, and hiedra venenosa is poison ivy.^[20] Place names from the word include Adrada in Castile and Edrada in León.^[3]

Timeline

• 1200–1250 – yedra in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[2]
• c. 1295 – the Primera crónica general has yedra.^[3][7]
• c. 1400 – the Escorial glossary records it.^[3]
• 1481–1496 – Juan del Encina writes hiedra.^[16]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin dictionary translates haedera as iedra.^[21]
• 1549 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[19]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades describes the plant and the Riojan sense.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology Latin hedera and adds hiedra terrestre.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. ivy (Hedera helix): an evergreen climbing plant of the ivy family (Araliaceae) whose stems put out roots that cling to walls and trees, with glossy leathery lobed leaves, greenish-yellow flowers in umbels and blackish berries.^[22][4][1]
2. hiedra terrestre: ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), a perennial plant of the mint family with heart-shaped leaves and blue flowers, once used as an expectorant.^[22][4]
3. (Mexico) Any of several other climbing plants, such as Cobaea scandens.^[20]

Related words

• Latin hedera
• Catalan heura
• Portuguese hera

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. hiedra
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 352
4. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hiedra
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3231
6. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. yedra
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hiedra
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 564
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. hiedra
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 350
15. ^ 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. hiedra
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. hiedra
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 150
18. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 284
19. ^ a b 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. hiedra
20. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 594
21. ^ 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, p. s.v. hiedra
22. ^ a b 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. hiedra