laúd

Forms

laúd m (plural laúdes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish alaúd, borrowed from Andalusian Arabic العود (alʕúd), from Arabic عود (ʿūd, “wood; lute”) with the Arabic article ال (al-) fused to the noun.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Corominas explains that the Arabic consonant ʿain, which Spanish could not reproduce, was heard as a kind of deep /a/, so that the article and noun were heard with an extra vowel, as in the Old Spanish form; the form without the initial vowel later replaced it.^[2][3] The same Arabic word gave Portuguese alaúde, Catalan llaüt and French luth.^[2][6]

Corriente notes that the Classical Arabic word already named a musical instrument, and that its use for a boat, which it hardly ever has in Arabic, probably arose in the lingua franca or among bilingual sailors.^[7][6] Corominas and the DHLE explain the boat as named from its likeness to the instrument, as with the popular Catalan llagut (“small rowing boat”).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the form alod in Alfonso X's astrological treatise Judizios de las estrellas (1254), among the instruments of minstrels: estrumente de ioglerias. assi como alod. o rota. o trompas. o atamores “an instrument of minstrelsy, such as the lute, the rote, trumpets or drums”.^[8][9][5] The DHLE dates the form laud to the Historia de la donzella Teodor (c. 1250), a text the CDH knows from a copy of about 1500.^[5][10] In the Libro de buen amor (1330–1343) one manuscript has alaút and another laúd: el corpudo laúd “the big-bellied lute”.^[2][5][10]

Semantic evolution

In medieval texts the lute appears mostly in lists of instruments, beside the guitar and the vihuela, and is often called laúd árabe for the original instrument with a rounded back and a short neck.^[5] The sense “small Mediterranean sailing boat” is first recorded in 1580 in Sánchez de las Brozas, and the leatherback turtle, named from the ridges on its shell that recall the strings of the instrument, in 1805, in Clavijo Fajardo's translation of Buffon.^[5][4] The DHLE also records “the art of playing the lute” from 1852 and “lute player” from 1970.^[5] The Academy's dictionary of 1899 already gave the instrument, the boat and the turtle.^[11] DAMER records it as a name of the leatherback in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.^[12]

Corominas notes that a popular stress láud appeared early: the reverse spelling labdes in a Salamanca document of 1503 implies it, and Valbuena's metre (c. 1600) shows it; it is now the usual pronunciation in much of the Americas, but educated speech restored laúd, as Calderón scans it.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1254 – alod in Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas.^[8][9]
• c. 1250 – laud in the Historia de la donzella Teodor (in a copy of about 1500).^[5][10]
• 1330–1343 – alaút and laúd in the manuscripts of the Libro de buen amor.^[2][5]
• 1335 – alaúd, the older form.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin testudo for laud, and lyricen for its player.^[13]
• 1503 – the spelling labdes in Salamanca points to the stress láud.^[2]
• 1580 – first record of the sense “boat”, in Sánchez de las Brozas.^[5]
• c. 1600 – Valbuena's verse scans the word láud.^[2]
• 1805 – first record of the sense “leatherback turtle”.^[5]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the Arabic etymon and the three senses.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lute: a stringed instrument like the bandurria but with a larger body and a lower sound.^[4][14][1]
2. (nautical) A small Mediterranean boat with one mast and a lateen sail, a jib on a boom and a mizzen at the stern.^[4][14]
3. (zoology) The leatherback turtle, a sea turtle with a leathery shell bearing seven ridges like the strings of the instrument.^[4][12]

Word family

• archilaúd
• laudista

Related words

• Portuguese alaúde
• Catalan llaüt

Usage notes

The word is stressed laúd in standard speech, but láud is common in much of Latin America.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c 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, 603
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. laúd
4. ^ a b c d e 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. laúd
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. laúd
6. ^ a b c Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. laúd
7. ^ Corriente, Federico (1999), Diccionario de arabismos y voces afines en iberorromance, Madrid: Gredos, p. 362
8. ^ 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. laúd
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. alod
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. laúd
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 590
12. ^ 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. laúd
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. laúd
14. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. laúd