infierno

Forms

infierno m (plural infiernos)^[1] Old Spanish infierno, also enfierno (Berceo), inferno, ifierno and ihierno; the place name Villayerno in Burgos was Villalihierno, “town of hell”.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin īnfernum (“the underworld; hell”), the same in Old Spanish, infierno.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin noun meant the dwelling of the gods of the underworld; it is the neuter of īnfernus (“of the underworld; lower”), derived from īnferus (“lower, below”).^[5][6][8] Classical Latin usually used the word in the plural, while the Church writers used the masculine or the neuter singular.^[5] The adjective continues Proto-Italic *enþero-, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥dʰero- (“lower”), and is related to Old High German untar (“under”).^[8]

The word is common to all the western Romance languages: Portuguese inferno, Catalan infern, Old Occitan enfern, French enfer and Italian inferno, and it passed into Basque ibernu.^[9][3][5] Corominas notes that it was frequent and popular in every period.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), in Jimena's prayer, in the plural: resucitest e fust a los infiernos “you rose again and went down to hell”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the three religious senses: the place of eternal punishment of the damned, the underworld of the pagans (a river d'ynfierno), and the limbo where the souls of the just awaited redemption (el seno del jnfierno).^[10] Autoridades also gave the sense “anything that causes unrest or distress”: a very hot place is hecho un infierno.^[11]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 added technical uses: the refectory where monks of some orders ate meat, the underground pit holding the wheel of a horse mill, and a children's game; it also recorded the proverb de desagradecidos está el infierno lleno “hell is full of the ungrateful”.^[12] In 1869 it added a regional sense of Navarre and Aragon, the vat where the water used to scald olive paste settled and a poorer oil was skimmed off.^[13][14] In Cuba infierno is a card game.^[15] Spanish passed the word to Tagalog impiyerno.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has los infiernos.^[4][5][6]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo asks where hell is and what names it has.^[4]
• 1220–1250 – the derivative infernal is first recorded.^[6]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses it for the limbo of the just.^[10]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses Cerberus as the dog that guards the gate of hell.^[16]
• 1520 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[17]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the monastic refectory, the mill pit and the game.^[12]
• 1869 – the olive-oil vat of Navarre and Aragon.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. hell: in traditional Christian doctrine, the place where the damned suffer eternal punishment after death; also in the plural.^[7][1]
2. In other religions and mythologies, the underworld where the spirits of the dead dwell: Orfeo bajó a los infiernos.^[7][19]
3. (mostly in the plural) The limbo or bosom of Abraham.^[7]
4. In some religious orders, the refectory where meat is eaten.^[7]
5. The pit under a horse-driven mill that holds its wheel and gear.^[7]
6. The vat that collects the water used to scald olive paste, from which a poorer oil is taken.^[7]
7. One of the squares drawn on the ground in the game of infernáculo.^[7]
8. (colloquial) A place or situation of great suffering or distress: Aquel verano en la fábrica fue un infierno.^[7][19]
9. (colloquial) Great suffering or distress.^[7]
10. (religion) In Christianity, the state of final separation from God.^[7]
11. (Cuba) A card game.^[15]

Word family

• infiernillo

Related words

• infernal
• inferior
• ínfimo
• Latin īnferus

Usage notes

Set phrases include el quinto infierno “a very remote place” and ¡vete al infierno!, an angry way of sending someone off.^[7] In Puerto Rico the proverb de ese infierno no salen chispas says that a heated quarrel without real enmity soon passes.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. infierno
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3430
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. infierno
5. ^ 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, 450
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. inferior
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. infierno
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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4397
10. ^ a b 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. infierno
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. infierno
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 492
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 433
14. ^ Borao, Jerónimo (1908), Diccionario de voces aragonesas, 2nd ed., Zaragoza: Imprenta del Hospicio Provincial, p. 244
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. infierno
16. ^ 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. infierno
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. infierno
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 596
19. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. infierno
20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. infierno