nudo

Forms

nudo m (plural nudos)^[1] Old Spanish and Classical Spanish also wrote ñudo, the form of Nebrija's dictionaries, which the Canarian historical dictionary records as late as 1604.^[2][3][1] Old Spanish nuedo occurs in the Cancionero de Baena.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish nudo, inherited from Vulgar Latin *nūdus, a variant of Latin nōdus (“knot”).^[6][1] The BDELC derives it from the classical form and calls the change of the Latin long /o/ to /u/ irregular and not well explained;^[7] Catalan and Gascon show the same change.^[7] The REW explains the initial ⟨ñ⟩ of ñudo by the influence of the verb añudar, from annodare.^[5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese nó, Galician nó, Asturian nuedu, Aragonese nugo, Catalan nus, French nœud, Italian nodo and Romanian nod.^[5][8][9][1]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *nōdo- or *neh₃do- (“knot”), compares Old Norse nót (“net”), and considers the root etymology uncertain, perhaps a loan.^[10] Wiktionary gives two older proposals: a root *gned- (“to bind”), which would make the Latin word a cognate of English knot, and a root *ned- (“to turn, twist, knot”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, in an early 15th-century copy), where the word is the Gordian knot: contendió quanto pudo por el nudo soltar “he strove as hard as he could to undo the knot”.^[11] In the Moamín of 1250 a nudo is a lump that may appear in the crop of a hunting bird.^[11] The BDELC dates the first record to 1251.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the main senses: a tightened loop, the knot of a tree, the joint between the bones of a tail, and figuratively a bond or tie (los nudos de los cercos, 1280).^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines the word as a tie made by looping and tightening a thread, cord or ribbon, then as the hard round part of a trunk where branches grow and the joints of canes and rushes.^[13] Terreros adds the anatomical sense, the knuckles of the fingers, also called nudillos.^[14]

The modern dictionary adds the knop of a chalice, a junction of mountain ranges or of roads, the core of a plot before its outcome, the crux of a question and, in physics and computing, a node of a network.^[6] The nautical unit of speed is also called nudo.^[1] In the Americas the word appears from 1513, and in Cuzco in 1533 a writer describes accounts kept by knots on cords.^[15] The Quijote has nudo gordiano and a knot that sticks in the throat.^[16]

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre, in an early 15th-century copy, uses the word for the Gordian knot.^[11]
• 1250 – the Moamín uses it for a lump in a bird's crop.^[11]
• 1251 – the first record that the BDELC gives.^[7]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses it for the knot of a tree.^[12]
• 1438 – first record of the derivative nudoso.^[7]
• 1490 – first record of the verb anudar.^[7]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary renders Latin nodus with ñudo.^[2]
• 1533 – a text from Cuzco describes counting by knots tied in cords.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the word and its sense in trees and plants.^[13]
• 1855 – first record of reanudar, modelled on French renouer.^[7]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. nodus”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A knot: a loop in a cord, thread or ribbon that tightens the more either end is pulled: Hizo un nudo doble en el cordón.^[6][1]
2. (botany) The part of a trunk or branch where branches or shoots grow; in canes and similar plants, the joint between sections.^[6]
3. A lump that forms in a tendon through disease, or in a bone where a fracture has knitted.^[6]
4. In animals, a joint between parts, especially between the bones of the tail.^[6]
5. The knop of a liturgical chalice, between the foot and the cup.^[6]
6. A place where mountain ranges meet; a junction where several roads or railways cross.^[6]
7. In a play, novel or film, the core of the action or tension that comes before the outcome (desenlace).^[6]
8. The central point or main difficulty of a question: Ahí está el nudo del asunto.^[6]
9. A bond or tie between people, as that of marriage.^[6]
10. (nautical) A knot, a unit of speed of one nautical mile per hour.^[1]
11. (physics, computing) A node: a point where several conductors or channels meet.^[6]

Word family

• nudillo
• nudoso
• anudar
• reanudar
• desanudar

Related words

• nodo
• nódulo
• Latin nōdus
• Portuguese nó

Usage notes

Wiktionary has a separate formal adjective nudo “nude, bare”, taken from Latin nūdus.^[1] García de Diego calls it a learned word beside Old Spanish popular nuo.^[18] Old Spanish used it in the Castilian text of the Council of León, about 1250, in nudos cuchiellos “bare knives”.^[11][19] The Academy marked the adjective as obsolete in 1843, and today it survives in formal language and in law, as in nuda propiedad “bare ownership”.^{[20][21][6][22]} Set phrases of the noun include nudo gordiano, nudo marinero and nudo en la garganta.^[6][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. nudo
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. ñudo
4. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 310
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. nōdus
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. nudo
7. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nudo
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. nodus
9. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. nuedu
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. nōdus
11. ^ 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. nudo
12. ^ 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. nudo
13. ^ a b 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, 678
15. ^ 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. nudo
16. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 794
17. ^ 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
18. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. nudus
19. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. nudo
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 502
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. nudo
22. ^ 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. 493