nublo

Forms

nublo m (plural nublos)^[1] Nebrija and 16th-century texts also write ñublo.^[2][3][1] The feminine of the adjective is nubla.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nūbilus (“cloudy, overcast”).^[4][1][5][6] Latin also used the adjective as a noun, nūbilum (“cloudy weather”), and in the plural for storm clouds.^[7][8] García de Diego thinks the Castilian form owes something to anublar.^[6]

The same Latin adjective gave Aragonese nublo, Asturian nublu, Catalan núvol, Old Occitan nivol, Italian nuvola and Romanian nour (“cloud”).^[9][10]

The Latin adjective is formed on nūbēs (“cloud”), the source of nube; the OLD analyses it as the noun with the suffix -ilus, Wiktionary as the noun with -idus, with /d/ changed to /l/.^[11][1][5] The noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (“to cover”), whose only direct cognate, according to de Vaan, is Welsh nudd (“haze”).^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel finds nublo in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas (1256–1265).^[13] In the General estoria (1272–1275) it means a cloud that threatens a storm.^[14] The BDELC dates the word only to 1335, the Libro de buen amor, where Juan Ruiz speaks of a sudden storm cloud, rrevatado nublo.^[5][15]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish nublo was mainly a noun, “storm cloud”; the Coplas de Mingo Revulgo have el nublo todo se cierra “the storm cloud closes in”.^[14][16] Nebrija gives ñublo del pan, Latin rubigo, for blight of the grain, and Oudin translates the word with French nielle des blés.^[2] The Academy marked this sense “smut” as obsolete from 1817, but the DLE again lists it without that label.^[17][4]

Covarrubias in 1611 explains it as whatever covers the sun.^[18] Autoridades records the adjective “cloudy” and the noun “cloud, overcast sky”.^[16] The adjective lives on in Leonese and Asturian, and Wiktionary labels it Latin American.^[19][20][1] In Andalusia un nublo is a crowd of people or things.^[21] In the Americas the noun appears from 1571, in Mexico City.^[3]

Timeline

• 1256–1265 – nublo in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas.^[13]
• 1272–1275 – the General estoria uses it for a storm cloud.^[14]
• 1335 – Juan Ruiz's rrevatado nublo, the BDELC's first date.^[5][15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija has ñublo del pan for blight of grain.^[2]
• 1571 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines nublo and nublado.^[18]
• 1817 – the Academy lists the sense “smut” as obsolete.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin nubilus.^[22]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cloudy, overcast: Amaneció nublo y frío.^[4][23][1]

Noun

1. A storm cloud, a cloud that threatens a storm.^[4][1]
2. (botany) smut, a parasitic fungus of cereals (the same as tizón).^[4][23]
3. (Andalusia) A crowd of people or things.^[21]

Related words

• nube
• nublado
• nublar
• anublar
• Latin nūbēs
• Catalan núvol
• Italian nuvola

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. nublo
3. ^ a b c 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. ñublo
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. nublo
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nube
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4631
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. nūbilus
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 499
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. nūbilus
10. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 989
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. nūbilus
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. nublo
14. ^ 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. nublo
15. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 310
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 696
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 603
18. ^ 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. 1168
19. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. nublo
20. ^ Rato y Hevia, Apolinar de (1891), Vocabulario de las palabras y frases bables que se hablaron antiguamente y de las que hoy se hablan en el Principado de Asturias, Madrid: Manuel G. Hernández, p. 88
21. ^ a b Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 429
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 745
23. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nublo