maravilloso

Forms

maravilloso (feminine maravillosa, masculine plural maravillosos, feminine plural maravillosas)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish maravilla + -oso.^[2][1][3] maravilla continues Late Latin mīrābilia (“wonders”), the neuter plural of Latin mīrābilis (“wonderful, extraordinary”) used as a noun, by a semi-learned route.^[3][1] Old Spanish also had maravija, the regular outcome of the Latin ending, so the ⟨-illa⟩ of the usual form may come from another Romance language or from Latin influence.^[1]

The Latin adjective is formed from mīror (“to wonder at”) and -bilis;^[4][1] the verb comes from mīrus (“astonishing”), from Proto-Italic *smeiros and Proto-Indo-European *sméyros (“laughing, smiling”).^[4][1] The same formation is Portuguese maravilhoso, recorded in the 13th century.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas and the DEMel record it in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140), together with the verb maravillar.^[3][6] Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) uses it of a stone's extraordinary power: et a otra uertud en si muy marauillosa “and it has in itself another very marvellous power”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish it meant “extraordinary, astonishing”, as of a stone's hidden powers.^[7] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as “exquisite, perfect, causing admiration”, with an example from Lope de Vega.^[8] The Academy's definition “excellent, admirable” of 1817 became “extraordinary, excellent, admirable” in 1869, and the DLE keeps it unchanged.^[9][10][2] Moliner separates the older sense “inexplicable by the laws of nature”, used of magic and of the wonders of fairy tales, from the everyday “wonderful, splendid”.^[11][12]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid.^[3][6]
• 1250–1279 – marauillosa in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[7]
• 1548 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[13]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it in English as “maruellous”.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades: exquisite, perfect, causing admiration.^[8]
• 1869 – the Academy's definition “extraordinary, excellent, admirable”.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wonderful, marvellous: extraordinary, excellent, admirable: Pasamos una tarde maravillosa en la playa.^[2][1][11]
2. Inexplicable by the laws of nature; magical, prodigious (mágico, prodigioso).^[11][12]

Word family

• maravillosamente

Related words

• maravilla
• maravillar
• mirar
• Latin mīrābilis
• Portuguese maravilhoso

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. maravilloso
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. maravilla
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. maravilhoso
6. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. maravilloso
7. ^ 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. maravilloso
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 495
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 555
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 491
11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. maravilloso
12. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. maravilloso
13. ^ 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. maravilloso
14. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 169