lagrimar

Forms

lagrimar (first-person singular present lagrimo, first-person singular preterite lagrimé, past participle lagrimado)^[1]

Etymology

The DLE, Wiktionary, the REW and García de Diego take it as inherited from Latin lacrimāre (“to shed tears, weep”).^[2][1][3][4] Corominas lists it instead among the derivatives of lágrima, dating it from Nebrija, and the Academy's dictionary of 1884 also derived it from the noun.^[5][6][7]

The Latin verb is continued by Portuguese lagrimar, Catalan llagremar, Old Occitan lagremar, Italian lagrimare and Romanian lăcrima.^[3][4]

The Latin verb is formed from lacrima (“tear”), which also had a deponent form lacrimor.^[1][8] The noun's older form was dacrima;^[1][9] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *dáḱru-, and the OLD thinks it probably came from Ancient Greek δάκρυμα (dákruma).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Moamín (1250, in a copy of the second half of the 13th century) uses it of hunting birds whose eyes water: les lagrimaren los ojos “their eyes water”.^[10][11] Corominas's first record is Nebrija, c. 1495.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the verb both for weeping and for eyes running with water from illness; the Libro de la montería of Alfonso XI uses it in the same way as the Moamín.^[12][11] Nebrija glossed it with llorar and Latin lachrymor.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Guevara on an emperor whose eye sometimes watered.^[14]

Terreros found the verb little used, and the Academy has defined it simply as llorar since 1817.^[15][16][2] Domínguez in 1846 wanted to keep it for tears caused by illness or bright light rather than by feeling.^[17] The frequentative lagrimear is now more common.^[5][1]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín uses it of watering eyes.^[10]
• 1342–1350 – Alfonso XI's Libro de la montería.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija, Corominas's first record.^[6][13]
• 1539 – first record from the Americas, in New Granada.^[18]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as shedding tears.^[14]
• 1786 – Terreros calls it a word of little use.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as llorar.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To shed tears, to weep (llorar): La niña lagrimaba en silencio junto a la ventana.^[2][1]
2. (of the eyes) To water.^[11][17]
3. To grieve.^[1]

Related words

• lágrima
• lagrimear
• lacrimar
• Latin lacrimō
• Portuguese lagrimar

Usage notes

lacrimar is a learned variant of the same verb.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. lagrimar
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4825
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3700
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lágrima
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lágrima
7. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 627
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lacrimō
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lacrima
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. lagrimar
11. ^ a b c 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. lagrimar
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. lagrimar
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 369
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. lagrimar
15. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 414
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 515
17. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1061
18. ^ 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. lagrimar