oler

Forms

oler (first-person singular present huelo, first-person singular preterite olí, past participle olido)^[1] The stressed forms have the diphthong ue, written hue- (huelo, huele, huela); Autoridades already describes this change of o to hue as the verb's irregularity.^[2][1] Asturian, and popular speech in Aragon and Castile, have goler, from the stressed forms güele, güela.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin oleō (“to give off a smell; to smell of”); Old Spanish oler has the same form from the first texts.^[5][6][1] The same Latin verb is Galician olir, Catalan oldre, Italian olire and Old French oloir.^[3][1]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from Proto-Italic *ode/o- (“to smell”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”), with the change of /d/ to /l/ between vowels, which here took place before long /eː/ but not before /oː/: the noun odor (“smell”) kept the /d/.^[7] Cognates include Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “to smell”).^[7] The OLD likewise derives the verb from an older form with /d/, and Plautus still has forms of the third conjugation.^[8]

The noun olor continues Vulgar Latin olor, the classical noun altered under the influence of the verb.^[6] The learned words of the family, such as odorífero and olfato, keep the classical forms.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The early examples have the intransitive sense of the Latin verb, “to give off a smell”: in the Semejanza del mundo (c. 1223) a stone put in wine faze la oler vien maravillosamente “makes it smell wonderfully good”, and in the Razón de amor (c. 1205–1250, in a copy of 1250–1260) the spring is surrounded by todas yeruas que bien olien “all herbs that smell good”.^[9] The BDELC dates the verb to 1220–1250.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario already uses the verb for perceiving a smell, beside the older sense, and his Judizios use the infinitive as a noun for the sense of smell.^[10] Nebrija in 1513 gives oler “to give off a smell” with Latin oleo.^[11] In the Americas the verb is recorded from 1541, in Michoacán, and a 1548 text from Santo Domingo quotes the courtly proverb el que no fue paje, siempre huele a acemilero “he who was never a page always smells of the muleteer”.^[12]

Autoridades still puts the intransitive sense first, then the figurative “to resemble” and “to have the look of something bad”, as in este hombre huele a hereje “this man smells of heresy”.^[2] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 adds “to find out something hidden”, “to pry into what others do” and the phrase no oler bien “to arouse suspicion”.^[13] From this edition on, the transitive sense comes first.^[13][14] In the current DLE the pronominal olerse “to suspect” is the usual form of the figurative sense.^[5]

In Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela ni oler ni heder means to leave someone indifferent.^[15] In Mexico and Cuba ni huele ni hiede is said of a useless person without initiative.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1205–1250 – the Razón de amor (in a copy of 1250–1260) has olien “they smell”.^[9]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo uses the infinitive.^[9]
• 1220–1250 – the BDELC's date for oler and for olor.^[6]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it both for giving off and for perceiving a smell.^[10]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin oleo.^[11]
• 1541 – first record from the Americas, in Michoacán.^[12]
• c. 1580 – first record of the derivative oliscar.^[6]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records no oler bien and the sense “to pry”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin olere.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To smell, perceive odours: Desde la puerta olíamos el pan recién hecho.^[5][1]
2. (transitive, also intransitive) To sniff at something to identify its smell: El perro olió la maleta.^[5]
3. (colloquial, mostly pronominal) To suspect or guess something hidden: Ya se olía lo del despido.^[5][1]
4. (colloquial) To pry into what others are doing.^[5][1]
5. (intransitive) To give off a smell, pleasant or unpleasant: La cocina huele a canela.^[5][1]
6. (intransitive, colloquial) To seem, to have the look of something, usually bad: Tanta prisa me huele a engaño.^[5]

Word family

• oliscar
• olor
• olisquear

Related words

• inodoro
• olfato
• ozono
• odorato
• Latin oleō

Usage notes

Set phrases include no oler bien “to arouse suspicion” and andar oliendo donde guisan “to look out for a chance to profit”.^[5] The thing smelt of follows a: huele a rosas.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 33
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. olere
4. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. goler
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. oler
6. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. oler
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ 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. oler
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. oler
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 389
12. ^ 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. goler
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 614
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 511
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. oler
16. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 351
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. 758
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1220