lodo

Forms

lodo m (plural lodos)^[1] One manuscript of the Libro de Alexandre has the Leonese form llodo, where the other has lodo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish lodo, inherited from Latin lutum (“mud, dirt, clay”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word was inherited by all the Romance languages except Romansh and French: Portuguese lodo, Galician lodo, Asturian llodu, Catalan llot, Italian loto, Sardinian ludu and Romanian lut.^[2][5][6] The languages do not use it in quite the same way: the Catalan word is the mud of standing water and floods, and the mud of roads is Catalan fang.^[2]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *luto-.^[7] De Vaan compares Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “dirty water, filth”) and words in Celtic, Albanian and Lithuanian, and Latin polluō (“to soil”) belongs to the same root.^[7][8] Wiktionary sets the root as Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“dirt, mud”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas found Lodo as a personal name in 1209, and the word itself in the Libro de Alexandre.^[2] The CDH has earlier hits: the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy) tells of the potter whose vessel que fazie de lodo “that he was making of clay” was spoiled in his hands.^[9][10] Herman the German's Psalter (c. 1240–1272) has assí como el lodo de las plaças “like the mud of the streets”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word has always been in general use for the mixture of earth and water, as on roads after rain.^[2] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses lodo for clay used to seal a vessel.^[11] Alonso de Palencia (1490) defined it as earth dissolved with water, and Nebrija as wet and trodden earth.^[2][12]

Covarrubias (1611) records the proverb de aquellos polvos vienen estos lodos, for an evil that grows out of an earlier cause, and the phrase ponerlo de lodo, to spoil a business.^[13] Autoridades adds poner de lodo “to insult” and sacar el pie del lodo “to help someone out of trouble”.^[14] Today the word is also used figuratively for dishonour, in phrases such as arrastrar por el lodo.^[15][16] In the Americas it is recorded from Puerto Rico in 1519.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – lodo in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[9]
• 1209 – Lodo as a personal name in a charter.^[2][3]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre, with the Leonese variant llodo.^[2][9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for clay to seal a vessel.^[11]
• early 15th century – the derivative lodoso “muddy”.^[3]
• 1495 – Nebrija records enlodar “to cover with mud”.^[3]
• 1519 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records de aquellos polvos vienen estos lodos.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records the proverb salir del lodo y caer en el arroyo.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. mud: a mixture of earth and water, especially that formed on the ground by rain: Después de la tormenta el camino era puro lodo.^[4][1]
2. (figurative) dishonour, disgrace: Sus enemigos arrastraron su nombre por el lodo.^[15][16]

Word family

• lodazal
• lodoso
• enlodar

Related words

• lúteo
• poluto
• Portuguese lodo
• Catalan llot

Usage notes

Poner a alguien de lodo (or del lodo) means to cover someone with mud and, figuratively, to abuse them with insults.^[4][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 687
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lodo
4. ^ 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. lodo
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5189
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4006
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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. lodo
10. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. lodo
11. ^ 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. lodo
12. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 372
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1092
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 429
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lodo
16. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. lodo
17. ^ 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. lodo
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)