maravilla

Forms

maravilla f (plural maravillas)^[1] Old Spanish texts write marauilla, marauila (Auto de los Reyes Magos), maravella (Vida de Santa María Egipciaca) and marabilla.^[2][3] Old Spanish also had maravija.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish maravilla, inherited from Late Latin mīrābilia (“wonders, marvels”), by a semi-learned route.^[4][5][1][6] The Late Latin noun, properly “wonderful things”, is the neuter plural of the adjective Latin mīrābilis (“wonderful, astonishing”) used as a noun.^[4][7][1] The adjective is formed from mīror (“to wonder at”) with the suffix -bilis, and the verb from mīrus (“remarkable, astonishing”).^[8][9][1] De Vaan derives the adjective from Proto-Italic *smeiro- and Proto-Indo-European *sméi-ro- (“laughter”), the root of English smile as well.^[9][1]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese maravilha, Catalan meravella, French merveille and Italian meraviglia.^[10][11] The REW sets up a Vulgar Latin *merabilia for the forms with ⟨e⟩, which it calls unexplained; the DHLF explains the French one through a popular form with the vowels assimilated.^[10][12] The regular Spanish outcome of the Latin ending would have been ⟨-ija⟩, as in Old Spanish maravija.^[1] Wiktionary suggests that ⟨-illa⟩ reflects a borrowing from another Romance language or the influence of the Latin word, and García de Diego takes the Castilian word for a loan from Italian or from the dialects.^[1][11] Corominas calls it semi-learned.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the word in Count García's angry outburst: ¡Maravilla es del Cid, que su ondra crece tanto! “it is a marvel about the Cid, that his honour grows so much”.^[2][4] The Auto de los Reyes Magos, of the late 12th century, has Caspar's quál marauila “what a wonder” at the new star.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses the noun for an extraordinary thing, the phrase a maravilla “marvellously, extraordinarily” and non ay maravilla “no wonder”.^[13] The first record from the Americas is of 1493: en ella hay pinares a maravilla “there are wonderful pine woods on it”.^[14]

Covarrubias (1611) already uses the word for a well-known flower.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1734) describes it as a plant with a bell-shaped blue flower streaked with red that wilts as soon as the sun touches it, also called flor de noche, and quotes Góngora's la flor de la maravilla.^[16] The Academy's 1817 edition adds the marigold and the phrases a las mil maravillas “exquisitely” and a maravilla; the 1869 edition adds maravilla del mundo, por maravilla “rarely” and ser la octava maravilla.^[17][18] In Latin America the name goes to other plants, such as the four o'clock flower in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba and Puerto Rico and the sunflower in Chile.^[19] In Guatemala it also meant “a great number”.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid, in a 14th-century copy.^[2][4]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has the spelling marauila.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the noun and the phrase a maravilla.^[13]
• 1493 – the first record from the Americas, a maravilla.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the flower name.^[15]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades describes the plant with blue, red-streaked flowers.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary adds the marigold and a las mil maravillas.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin mirabilia.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wonder or marvel: an extraordinary event or thing that causes admiration: Aquel puente de piedra era una maravilla.^[5][1]
2. astonishment, wonder: the act or effect of marvelling.^[5][22]
3. The marigold (caléndula).^[5][1]
4. A climbing plant from the Americas grown in gardens, with blue flowers streaked with purple.^[5]
5. The four o'clock flower (dondiego).^[5][1]

Word family

• maravilloso
• maravillar

Related words

• mirar
• milagro
• admirar
• Latin mīrābilis
• French merveille

Usage notes

Set phrases include maravilla del mundo, each of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and a las maravillas or a las mil maravillas “perfectly, very well”.^[5]

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 Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. maravilla
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. maravilla
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. maravilla
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. maravilla
6. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 435
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 444
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5601
11. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. mirabilia
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ 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. maravilla
14. ^ 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. maravilla
15. ^ 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. 1115
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 495
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 555
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 491
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. maravilla
20. ^ Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 379
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 678
22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. maravilla