molino

Forms

molino m (plural molinos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish molino, inherited from Late Latin molīnum (“mill”).^[2][3][1] The Late Latin noun is the neuter of the adjective molīnus (“of a mill”) used as a noun, or a shortening of saxum molīnum (“millstone”).^[1][4] García de Diego cites Ammianus for the plural molinae and Tertullian for the full phrase.^[5] The adjective belongs to molō (“to grind in a mill”), the source of moler.^[2][6][1]

The same Late Latin word is Portuguese moinho, Galician muíño, Asturian molín, Catalan molí, French moulin and Italian mulino.^[7][5][1]

The Latin verb continues Proto-Italic *melō (“to grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”);^[1] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”) and the English word meal.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy): „Fuesse a río d'Ovirna los molinos picar e prender maquilas, commo lo suele far” “let him go to the river Ubierna to dress the millstones and take his toll of flour, as he is wont to do”.^[8][2] The DEMel lists a primary record of c. 1156 in the cartulary of Santo Domingo de la Calzada.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X uses molino both for the machine and for the building that houses it.^[10] Covarrubias quotes the proverb por demás es la cítola en el molino, si el molinero es sordo, “the mill clapper is no use if the miller is deaf”.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades extends the word to any machine that crushes or thins something, as the paper mill or the mint, and uses it figuratively for a restless, bustling person who never stops.^[12] In the slang of the underworld molino was judicial torture, from the wheel of the rack.^[13]

Because of the windmills that Don Quixote took for giants, molinos de viento came to mean imaginary enemies;^[14][15] Román asked the Academy to record this figurative plural.^[14][15] The DLE now also gives the senses “wind turbine” and, as rare colloquial use, “mouth”.^[3] In Ecuador molino is a measure of irrigation water, and in El Salvador a person's teeth.^[16] Judaeo-Spanish says fazerse la kavesa un molino of a mind worn out by worrying over a problem.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy) mentions the mills on the river Ubierna.^[8][2]
• c. 1156 – a primary record in the cartulary of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, according to the DEMel.^[9]
• 1215 – a Latin charter of the monastery of Oña uses the Romance word: „iuxta illud molino quod uocatur de Auocazme”.^[8]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's prose lists the molino among the things kept in a house.^[10]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses Latin mola aquaria as molino o aceña.^[18]
• 1528 – first record from the Americas, a hand mill in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “a mill”.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb of the clapper and the deaf miller.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. molinum”.^[21]
• 1899 – the Academy defines the mill by its millstone, bedstone and driving force, as the DLE still does.^[22][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mill: a machine for grinding, with a millstone turning on a fixed stone, driven by water, wind, steam or another force: un molino de agua.^[3][1]
2. Any apparatus that crushes, grinds, rolls or presses something: molino de aceite.^[3][4]
3. The building in which a mill is housed.^[3][23]
4. (figurative) A very restless, bustling person.^[3][12]
5. (figurative) A very tiresome person.^[3]
6. (technology) A wind turbine.^[3]
7. (colloquial, rare) The mouth.^[3]
8. (Ecuador) A unit of irrigation water, about 33.33 litres per second.^[16]

Word family

• molinero
• molinete
• molinillo
• molinar
• molinada
• molinería
• remolino

Related words

• moler
• Latin molō
• Portuguese moinho
• French moulin

Usage notes

Molino de viento is a windmill and, in the plural, an imaginary enemy, after Don Quixote.^[15][14] Molino de sangre is a mill driven by animals.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. moler
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. molino
4. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. molino
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. molinum
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. molino
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. molino
10. ^ 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. molino
11. ^ 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. 1143
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 592
13. ^ Salillas, Rafael (1896), El delincuente español: el lenguaje, Madrid: Victoriano Suárez
14. ^ a b c 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. 531
15. ^ a b c 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. 453
16. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. molino
17. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. molino
18. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. molino
19. ^ 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. molino
20. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 174
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. 713
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 668
23. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. molino