olor

Forms

olor m (plural olores)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish olor, inherited from Vulgar Latin olor (“smell”), an altered form of classical Latin odor (“smell, odour”) made under the influence of the verb oleō (“to smell”), the source of oler.^[2][3][1] The form is old: Varro already records it beside the classical noun, and Wiktionary calls it the pre- and post-Classical counterpart.^[4][1]

The same form is Catalan olor, Old Occitan olor, Old French olor and Italian olore;^[5][6][7] French and Italian later replaced it with the learned French odeur and odore, and Portuguese has only odor.^[5][6][7] Ribagorçan Catalan has ulor.^[8]

The classical noun continues the Proto-Italic noun *odōs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell”).^[4][1] Ancient Greek ὄζω (ózō, “I smell”) is a related word, the source of ozono.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first CDH hit is in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in Isaac's blessing: Olor de mio fijo como olor de canpo que bendixo el Criador, “the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Creator blessed”.^[10][11] The Poridat de poridades (c. 1250) treats it as feminine, la buena olor, “the good scent”.^[10] Corominas dates the word to 1220–1250.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario describes a stone that smells a olor de pescado fresco, “of fresh fish”, and the General estoria already uses the word for a person's fame.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a fragrance or a stench, told apart by bueno or malo; it also recorded the old sense “sense of smell”, quoting Juan de Mena's list of the five senses, and the figurative senses “fame, reputation”, “hope or promise of something” and “suspicion”.^[13] It also gave agua de olor, scented water.^[13] The Academy's 1884 edition has the phrase morir en olor de santidad, “to die in the odour of sanctity”.^[14]

The DLE keeps the figurative senses “hope” and “suspicion” and marks “sense of smell” as obsolete.^[3] Wiktionary also gives the figurative “whiff, hint”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – first record, in La fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[10][11]
• 1220–1250 – the date Corominas gives for olor and for oler.^[2]
• c. 1250 – the Poridat de poridades has the feminine la buena olor.^[10]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses the word for fame.^[12]
• 1490 – first record of oloroso.^[2]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin odor and odos as its equivalents.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the senses “sense of smell”, “fame”, “hope” and “suspicion”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary records morir en olor de santidad.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. smell, odour: the impression that what a body gives off makes on the sense of smell: La cocina tenía un olor a pan recién hecho.^[3][1]
2. What gives off a smell; a scent.^[3][16]
3. (figurative) Hope or promise of something.^[3]
4. (figurative) Suspicion of something hidden or about to happen; a whiff, a hint.^[3][1]
5. (obsolete) The sense of smell, olfato.^[3][16]

Word family

• olorizar
• oloroso

Related words

• oler
• olfato
• inodoro
• odorante
• Latin odor

Usage notes

Set phrases include agua de olor “scented water” and en olor de santidad “in the odour of sanctity”.^[13][14][16] Old Spanish also used the word as feminine.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. oler
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. olor
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b 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. 6, 55
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2378
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. olor
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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. olor
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. olor
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. olor
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. 5, 35
14. ^ a b c 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
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 389
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. olor