límpido

Forms

límpido (feminine límpida, masculine plural límpidos, feminine plural límpidas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowed from Latin limpidus (“clear, transparent”), beside the inherited doublet limpio.^[2][1][3][4] Corominas thinks it came by way of French limpide, which he dates to about 1500; the DHLF has the French word from 1509.^[5][6]

The popular descendants of the Latin adjective are few: Portuguese limpo, Romanian limpede, some Italian and Rhaeto-Romance dialect forms, and the Spanish doublet.^[5][7] Corominas argues from the dialect forms that the Latin adjective had a long stressed /iː/, and reconstructs a preliterary *lempio, raised to the modern form by metaphony.^[5] The English word limpid is a cognate.^[1]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear.^[8][9][1] De Vaan notes that limpor (“a clear liquid”), recorded in Lucilius, is older than the adjective, which may have been formed from it; others take it for a dialectal, Sabellic word.^[8] The OLD derives it, with a “perhaps”, from a form of lympha (“water”) with the suffix -idus.^[9] Wiktionary adds the traditional link with Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to shine”), the root of Ancient Greek λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Academy first entered the word in 1869, not yet in 1843, with the label “poetic” and the sense “clean, smooth, pure, spotless”;^[10] Corominas finds it in Campoamor at about the same time.^[10][5] The BDELC and Segura Munguía date it to the middle of the 19th century.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

The Academy has kept the label “poetic” and the definition of 1869 ever since, and Moliner calls the word literary, used of the sky, glass or water free of impurities, stains or clouds.^[10][2][12] American records from 1891 on describe clear waters and skies.^[13] From the word Spanish formed limpidez.^[5] In western Colombia límpido is a common name for household bleach, from a brand name.^[14]

Timeline

• 1572 – límpido, the Portuguese learned form, is recorded.^[7]
• 1869 – first in the Academy's dictionary, as a poetic word.^[10][5]
• 1891 – a Bogotá record praises waters límpidas y exelentes para bebidas.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin limpidus.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary, poetic) clear, limpid, transparent; free of impurities, stains or clouds, especially of water, air, the sky or glass: Desde la cumbre se veía un cielo límpido.^[2][12][1]
2. (figurative) Pure, untroubled.^[16][2]

Noun

1. (Colombia) Household bleach.^[14]

Word family

• limpidez

Related words

• limpio
• limpiar
• linfa
• Latin limpidus
• English limpid

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. limpio
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. limpidus
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 658
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. limpide
7. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
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, p. s.v. limpidus
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. limpidus
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
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. límpido
14. ^ 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. límpido
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. límpido