lágrima

Forms

lágrima f (plural lágrimas)^[1] Old Spanish had both lágrema and lágrima from Berceo on;^[2][3] DEMel also records lagroma and llagrimas.^[2][3] Dialect forms include Asturian llárima and llígrima and Aragonese glárima, with metathesis; colloquial Castilian also has lárima.^[2][4] Autoridades spells the word lágryma.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish lágrema and lágrima, inherited from Latin lacrima (“tear”).^[2][6][7][1] Corominas notes that the word is found at all periods and in every Romance language: Portuguese lágrima, Catalan llàgrima, Occitan lagrema, French larme, Italian lacrima and Romanian lacrimă.^[2][4][8] The Pallars form clórima owes its cl- to the influence of the word for egg white.^[2]

The early Latin forms were dacruma and lacruma.^[9][1] The DLE, Bénaben and Segura derive the word from Ancient Greek δάκρυμα (dákruma).^[7][10][11] De Vaan sets out the case for this loan, that a native word would have been expected to end in -men and that a suffix -ma is not productive in Latin, but notes after Hamp that the Greek word is late, not found before the 5th century BC, and never became the usual word, which is δάκρυον (dákruon).^[9] If the word is native, it belongs with δάκρυ (dákru) and Old High German zahar; following Kortlandt, de Vaan derives these from a compound Proto-Indo-European *dr̥ḱ-h₂eḱru- (“eye-bitter”) that replaced the older *h₂eḱru-.^[9] Wiktionary compares the change of d to l with lingua (“tongue”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo has lágrema in the Vida de santo Domingo and lágrima in the Milagros, both for tears.^[2][6] DEMel lists an earlier record in a glossary of the Vida de santa María Egipciaca, of about 1215–1220.^[3] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the word for the drops of fluid shed by the eyes.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gave Latin lachryma for the tear that falls from the eyes, and first recorded the derivatives lagrimar and lagrimoso.^[13][2][6] Autoridades added two figurative senses: the drops that vines and other trees exude, and a very small quantity of any liquid, as in una lágryma de vino.^[5]

Today the plural also means sorrows and troubles, and the word names drop-shaped objects such as the glass pendants of a chandelier.^[7] In the Canaries lágrimas de María was a name of a garden plant, the candytuft, recorded by Viera y Clavijo.^[14] In Guatemala lágrima is a euphemism for a shameless or dishonest person.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1215–1220 – a glossary of the Vida de santa María Egipciaca, DEMel's earliest record.^[3]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses lágrema, lágrima and lagremal.^[2][6]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records lagrimar and lagrimoso.^[2][6]
• 1734 – Autoridades gives the senses “drop exuded by vines” and “small amount of a liquid”.^[5]
• 1799–1812 – Viera y Clavijo records the Canarian plant name lágrimas de María.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tear, a drop of the fluid that the lacrimal gland produces; mostly in the plural: Se le saltaron las lágrimas al leer la carta.^[7][1]
2. A drop-shaped object, especially a glass pendant of a chandelier.^[7]
3. A drop of sap that vines and other trees exude after pruning.^[7][5]
4. (in the plural) Sorrows, troubles, misfortunes.^[7]
5. (Guatemala, euphemistic) A shameless or dishonest person.^[15]

Word family

• lagrimoso
• lagrimal
• lagrimear
• lagrimeo
• lagrimón

Related words

• lacrimal
• lacrimoso
• lacrimógeno
• Latin lacrima
• Catalan llàgrima

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 559
3. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. lágrima
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. lacrima
5. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. lágrima
6. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lágrima
7. ^ a b c d e f g 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. lágrima
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. lágrima
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 411
12. ^ 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. lágrima
13. ^ 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. lágrima
14. ^ a b 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. lágrima
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. lágrima