hilo

Forms

hilo m (plural hilos)^[1] Old Spanish wrote filo; the DCECH has no example of hilo before Nebrija, while Alfonso de Palencia still writes filo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish filo, inherited from Latin fīlum (“thread”).^[2][4][5][1] The forms with /f/ held on in the transferred sense “cutting edge of a blade”, unknown in Latin but common to the western Romance languages, and Spanish used the difference to keep filo “edge” apart from ⟨hilo⟩ “thread”.^[2][1] Corominas calls ⟨filo⟩ an archaic or foreign doublet;^[1] Wiktionary notes that both words were inherited and that it is not fully clear why they split.^[4][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese fio, Galician fío, Asturian filu, Catalan fil, French fil, Italian filo and Romanian fir.^[6][7][1] The word Basque firu “thread” comes from it too.^[2][7] The Latin plural fīla survives in hila, once “row”, later “lint for dressing wounds”.^[2][4]

fīlum goes back to Proto-Italic *fī(s)lo- and Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- (“sinew, sinew thread”).^[8][1] Its cognates include Lithuanian gýsla (“vein, sinew”), Armenian ջիլ (ǰil, “sinew”) and Welsh gïau (“sinews”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a 13th-century Bible manuscript in the Escorial (I-j-8), though he has no doubt the word was in use from the beginnings of the language.^[2][4] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) rules that the warp of a cloth have setenta et VIII cuerdas, et las cuerdas ayan çient filos “seventy-eight cords, and the cords a hundred threads each”.^[3] The Moamín (1250) prescribes sewing con filo de algodón, ca el filo del lino romperlos yé aýna “with cotton thread, for linen thread would soon tear them”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's astronomy also uses filo for a line of stars and for the plumb line of a quadrant.^[9] The sense “cutting edge” is first recorded in 1490, in Alfonso de Palencia, with the form filo.^[4][2] Covarrubias (1611) records colgar de un hilo “to hang by a thread”, of weak hopes, correr hilo a hilo of a liquid that runs in a thin stream and the proverb por el hilo se saca el ovillo “from the thread you get the ball”.^[10] Autoridades defines it as thread of linen, wool or hemp, by antonomasia of linen, and adds metal wire, a thin stream of liquid and, figuratively, the continuation of something (el hilo de la risa).^[11]

Echegaray (1887–1889) adds linen clothes as against cotton ones.^[12] The DLE now also uses hilo for a chain of messages on one subject in an internet forum or social network.^[5][1] In the Americas hilo is recorded from 1512 in Puerto Rico (hilo de ballesta “crossbow string”); in the Canaries a hilo de agua was a measure of a water flow.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in a Bible manuscript.^[2][4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – filos in the warp of cloth in the Fuero de Zorita.^[3]
• 1250 – filo de algodón and filo del lino in the Moamín.^[3]
• c. 1330 – the verb hilar appears.^[4]
• 1490 – filo “cutting edge” in Alfonso de Palencia.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes hilo, with Latin filum.^[15][2]
• 1512 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records colgar de un hilo.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades adds wire, a thin stream and “continuation”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. thread, yarn: a long thin strand of textile material, especially for sewing.^[5][1]
2. linen: linen or hemp cloth, as against cotton, wool or silk: una camisa de hilo.^[5][1][16]
3. Very thin wire.^[5]
4. The thread of a spider or silkworm.^[5]
5. A thread-like body or strand.^[5]
6. A cutting edge.^[5][1]
7. An edge or border, as of a pond.^[5]
8. A very thin stream of a liquid: caía un hilo de aceite.^[5]
9. The course of a speech, story or train of thought: perder el hilo.^[5]
10. The continuation of actions, feelings or gestures.^[5]
11. (Internet) A thread: a chain of messages on one subject in a forum or social network.^[5][1]

Word family

• hilaza
• hilera
• hilar
• hilatura
• deshilar
• enhilar
• hilvanar
• hilacha
• hilandero
• deshilachar
• sobrehilar

Related words

• ahilar
• filo
• hila
• trefilar
• fila
• Latin fīlum
• Portuguese fio
• Catalan fil

Usage notes

Covarrubias's colgar de un hilo lives on as pender de un hilo;^[10][1] Wiktionary also lists the set phrases hilo conductor and hilo dental.^[10][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 361
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. hilo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hilo
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. hilo
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3306
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2793
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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. hilo
10. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 981
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 159
12. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 689
13. ^ 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. hilo
14. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. hilo
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 362
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hilo