nubloso

Forms

nubloso (feminine nublosa, masculine plural nublosos, feminine plural nublosas)^[1] A variant ñubloso was used in the 15th and 16th centuries, also in the Americas.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin nūbilōsus (“cloudy”).^[4][1][5] The Latin adjective is formed from nūbilus (“cloudy”) with the suffix -ōsus,^[1] and that adjective from nūbēs (“cloud”).^[6][1] Beside it Spanish kept nublo, from the simple adjective, first recorded in 1335.^[7]

The same family is Asturian nublosu and Portuguese nubloso, which Houaiss records from the 17th century.^[8][9] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)newdʰ- (“to cover”).^[1] De Vaan compares Welsh nudd (“haze”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas (1254), where it describes a degree of the sky with a “cloudy”, ill-defined star: grado de estrella nublosa.^[11][12] The General Estoria (1272–1275) uses it for an overcast, dark sky that clears when Moses appears.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense “covered with clouds” has stayed the same.^[4][13] By the 15th century it was also used figuratively of fortune and the times, “adverse, unhappy”: the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Ayala's la fortuna nublosa y mala.^[13] Terreros (1786–1793) already sent the reader to nublado and anublado, and Moliner and the Vox dictionary define it as a synonym of nublado, the usual word today.^[14][15][16]

Timeline

• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas speaks of a estrella nublosa.^[11][12]
• c. 1260 – the Old Spanish translation of the books of Maccabees has nubloso.^[17]
• 1272–1275 – the General Estoria uses it of an overcast sky.^[11]
• 1548 – first record from the Americas, in the spelling ñubloso, from Santo Domingo.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the literal and the figurative sense.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, Latin nubilosus.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cloudy, overcast: Amaneció un día nubloso y frío.^[4][1]
2. (figurative) unfortunate, adverse.^[4][13]

Related words

• nube
• nublo
• nublado
• nuboso
• Latin nūbilus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 310
3. ^ 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. ñubloso
4. ^ a b c d 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. nubloso
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. nubilosus
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nube
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. nublosu
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. nubloso
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d 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. nubloso
12. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. nubloso
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 687
14. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 677
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nubloso
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. nubloso
17. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. nubloso
18. ^ 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