hiel

Forms

hiel f (uncountable)^[1] Old Spanish fiel;^[2] fiel is still used in Aragonese and Asturian, and Cantabria and Salamanca have jiel.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fiel, inherited from Vulgar Latin *felem, from Latin fel (“bile, gall”).^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun was neuter, with the same form in the nominative and accusative, so the Romance words start from that form and not from the stem with ⟨ll⟩ of the other cases.^[3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese fel, Galician fel, Catalan fel, French fiel, Italian fiele and Romanian fiere.^[3][2][1] The word was feminine in Old Spanish, as in Romanian, Friulian and most northern Italian dialects, while Portuguese and Catalan have a masculine.^[3]

The Latin noun is compared with Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ, “bile”), Lithuanian tulžìs and Old Norse gall, from Proto-Germanic *gallōn-, but de Vaan calls its etymology uncertain.^[6][7] Wiktionary derives it either from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green”) or from a root for “yellow”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Duelo de la Virgen has the first record, fiel vuelta con vinagre “gall mixed with vinegar”, the drink given to Christ on the cross.^[8][3] Alfonso X's laws tell the same story with the same word: dieron le a beuer fiel & azedo.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's Lapidario the word also names the gall bladder, where a stone is found in the ox.^[9] The figurative sense of bitterness was early: in the Historia de la doncella Teodor the thing more bitter than gall is a bad son or daughter.^[10] Nebrija calls the gall the seat of melancholy, and Covarrubias in 1611 says that trials and troubles are called hieles.^[11][12]

Covarrubias and the Diccionario de Autoridades record hiel de la tierra, the very bitter plant common centaury.^[13][14] The Academy's 19th-century editions list many phrases: dar a beber hieles “to cause someone grief”, echar la hiel “to work oneself to death”, no tener hiel “to be gentle”.^[15][16] Today the DLE has bile, bitterness, and in the plural, troubles and hardships;^[8] sin hiel has developed several figurative senses.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo's Duelo has fiel, the first record.^[3][4][8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses fiel for the gall bladder.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes hiel with the new h-.^[11]
• 1564 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico, in the phrase hiel y vinagre.^[17]
• 1589 – the derivative ahelear “to taste of gall” appears in Juan de Pineda.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the plural hieles for troubles and hiel de la tierra for the plant.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it as bilis and gives the etymology from Latin fel.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. bile, gall; also the gall bladder.^[5][18][1]
2. bitterness, harshness or ill will: Su carta rezumaba hiel contra los antiguos socios.^[5][18]
3. (in the plural) Troubles, hardships, griefs.^[5][18]

Word family

• ahelear

Related words

• bilis
• Latin fel
• French fiel

Usage notes

Set phrases include hiel de la tierra “common centaury” and dar a beber hieles “to cause someone grief”.^[5] The plural is often paired with mieles: las mieles y las hieles “the sweets and bitters”.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 2723
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 353
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hiel
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. hiel
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. s.v. hiel
9. ^ 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. hiel
10. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. hiel
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 362
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 975
13. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 976
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 151
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 410
16. ^ 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. 564
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. hiel
18. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hiel