olivo

Forms

olivo m (plural olivos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *olīvus (“olive tree”), a masculine formed in Vulgar Latin from Latin olīva (“olive tree; olive”).^[2][3][1][4] Earlier Academy dictionaries and Moliner derived it from olīvum, the neuter.^[5][6][7] The same Vulgar Latin masculine is Italian ulivo, Italian olivo and Catalan oliu.^[4][1] The REW adds that Portuguese olivo was taken from Spanish.^[4]

The Latin noun is an adaptation of Ancient Greek ἐλαία (elaía), taken from a Greek dialect that still had the ⟨ϝ⟩ /w/.^[8][9] Wiktionary suggests it came through an Etruscan form, and that the Greek word is most likely from a Mediterranean pre-Greek source;^[1][10] Gómez de Silva also calls it Mediterranean, perhaps Cretan.^[1][10] Latin oleum “oil”, whence Spanish óleo, was taken from the neuter of the same Greek word.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC and Segura Munguía date the word to 1147;^[12][13] DEMel cites oliuo in the Mozarabic documents of Toledo in 1139 and oliuos in the cartulary of Fitero (1187–1189).^[2][12][13] Berceo's Poema de Santa Oria (1252–1257, in a 14th-century copy) describes a dense grove of olive trees laden with olives: en ella de olivos una grant espessura, cargados de olivas.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades noted that the tree was also called oliva; the fruit, called oliva in the 13th century, is now usually aceituna, and oliva survives in that sense only in some regions.^[15][2] The Academy recorded in 1817 the proverb olivo y aceituno todo es uno, said to those who make distinctions where there is no real difference.^[16]

In bullfighting tomar el olivo means to take refuge behind the barrier, and in Andalusia, by extension, to run away and hide.^[7][17] In the Caribbean and Central America the name is given to other trees, and in Puerto Rico to a small freshwater goby.^[18][19][20]

Timeline

• 1139 – oliuo in the Mozarabic documents of Toledo, according to DEMel.^[13]
• 1147 – the BDELC's first record.^[2]
• 1220–1250 – oliva “olive” is first recorded.^[2]
• 1252–1257 – Berceo's Poema de Santa Oria mentions a grove of olive trees.^[14]
• 1374 – the derivative olivar “olive grove” is first recorded.^[2]
• 1534 – first record from the Americas, in Puebla.^[21]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that the tree is also called oliva.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy records the proverb olivo y aceituno todo es uno.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin olivum.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The olive tree, Olea europaea: an evergreen with a short, thick, twisted trunk and narrow leaves, grey-white beneath, whose fruit is the olive (aceituna), grown in Spain above all for its oil.^[3][1]
2. The wood of the olive tree.^[3][22]
3. olivo silvestre: the wild olive, acebuche.^[7][22]

Word family

• olivar
• olivarero

Related words

• oliva
• óleo
• oleastro
• Latin olīva

Usage notes

The DLE names several varieties as set phrases, such as olivo arbequín, grown in Catalonia, with small fruit and a prized oil, and olivo acebucheno, a neglected tree that gives small, scanty fruit like the wild olive.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. olivo
3. ^ 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. olivo
4. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 759
6. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. olivo
7. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. olivo
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 505
11. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. olivo
12. ^ a b 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. 507
13. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. olivo
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 34
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 615
17. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 436
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. olivo
19. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. olivo
20. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. olivo
21. ^ 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. olivo
22. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. olivo