lumbrera

Forms

lumbrera f (plural lumbreras)^[1] Berceo and the Libro de Alexandre write lumnera; the Aragonese Vidal Mayor (c. 1250) has lumpnera.^[2][3] A rare Old Spanish variant lumbraria survives in Judeo-Spanish.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish lumnera, inherited from Late Latin lūmināria, the neuter plural of lūmināre (“light, lamp”), a derivative of lūmen (“light”).^[4][1][5] In popular and Church Latin this plural came to be used as a feminine singular, “lighting, light”, and also “star” and “guide”.^[6] Corominas lists the word among the derivatives of lumbre, the popular outcome of the same Latin noun.^[2][7] Berceo still keeps the group /mn/ in both words (lumne), where the later language has /mbr/.^[2]

The same Latin plural gave Galician lumieira, Catalan llumenera, French lumière and Romanian lumânare (“candle”).^[1][5] Beside the inherited word Spanish has the learned doublet luminaria, which the BDELC dates to the 15th century.^[1][7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *louksmən, from Proto-Indo-European *léwk-s-mn̥, a derivative of the root *lewk- (“bright”).^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the form lumnera, in Berceo and the Libro de Alexandre; the BDELC dates the word 1220–1250.^[2][7] In Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora (1246–1252, known from an 18th-century copy) a sacristan cleans the lamps por fer mejor lumnera “to give better light”.^[3] In the Alexandre (known from an early 15th-century copy) the moon and stars lose all their lumbrera “light, brightness” once the sun rises.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the prose of Alfonso X the word names the heavenly lights, the stars made on the fourth day of creation, as well as a lamp or translucent pane, and, figuratively, a guiding light for Christendom.^[9] The Aragonese Vidal Mayor (c. 1250) already uses it for a window or opening in the law of urban easements.^[3] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as a small high window that serves only to let in light.^[10]

The Diccionario de Autoridades gives three senses: a body that gives off light, a window or skylight high in a roof or wall, and, metaphorically, an eminent person who enlightens others by virtue and learning, as in the “two lights of the Church”, Peter and Paul.^[11] The Academy marked the sense “lamp” as obsolete in 1843, added the ventilation shaft in 1884, and by 1917 had the opening beside the blade of a carpenter's plane and the glazed hatch of a ship.^[12][13][14] Today it also names the port in the cylinder of a two-stroke engine, and in the plural, the eyes.^[4] Said of a person it is now often ironic.^[15][1]

In the Americas the word is recorded from 1551, in Guatemala.^[16] In Mexico it is a box in the bullring, and in Chile it is used of mines, for inclined shafts.^{[17][18][19][20]} In New Mexico it is the vent of an adobe oven.^[21]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first records, as lumnera, in Berceo and the Libro de Alexandre.^[7][2]
• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor has lumpnera for an opening in a wall.^[3]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria calls the stars lumbreras.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin luminare as its equivalent.^[22][23]
• 1551 – first record in the Americas, in Guatemala.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as a small high window for light.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the figurative sense “eminent, enlightening person”.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy marks the sense “lamp” as obsolete.^[12]
• 1917 – the nautical sense and the carpenter's plane appear in Alemany's dictionary.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A body that gives off light; a luminary.^[4][1]
2. An opening, skylight or duct in a roof or vault that lets in light or air.^[4][24]
3. A person of outstanding intelligence and learning, a genius; often ironic: Mi primo es una lumbrera para las matemáticas.^[4][15][1]
4. (carpentry) The slot beside the blade of a plane through which the shavings come out.^[4][24]
5. (nautical) A hatch, usually glazed, that lets light and air into the cabins of a ship.^[4][1]
6. (mechanics) A port in the cylinder wall of a two-stroke engine for the passage of gases.^[4][15]
7. (obsolete) A lamp or other device for giving light.^[4][1]
8. (in the plural, poetic) The eyes.^[4][1]
9. (Mexico) A box in a bullring.^[17][18]

Related words

• alumbrar
• lumbre
• luminaria
• luminar
• Latin lūmen
• Catalan llumenera
• French lumière

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 712
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. lumbrera
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. lumbrera
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3980
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. lumière
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lumbre
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. lūmen
9. ^ 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. lumbrera
10. ^ 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. 1094
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 438
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 445
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 654
14. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1050
15. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. lumbrera
16. ^ 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. lumbrera
17. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 513
18. ^ a b Ramos y Duarte, Félix (1895), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Imprenta de Eduardo Dublán, p. 339
19. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 350
20. ^ Rodríguez, Zorobabel (1875), Diccionario de chilenismos, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de El Independiente, p. 30
21. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 119
22. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (c. 1495), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca (facsimile, Madrid: Real Academia Española 1951), p. 137
23. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 373
24. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lumbrera