ondear

Forms

ondear (first-person singular present ondeo, first-person singular preterite ondeé, past participle ondeado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish onda + -ear, “to make waves”.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary instead derives it from Vulgar Latin *undizāre, formed from unda (“wave”) with a verb suffix, which also gave Italian ondeggiare and French ondoyer.^[1] Catalan onejar and Portuguese ondear are the same formation.^[5][6]

onda continues the same Latin noun.^[7][2] De Vaan traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ud-ōr, *ud-n- (“water”), the source of Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text with the verb is Hermann the German's translation of the Psalter (c. 1240–1272), in a figurative sense, “to waver”: nunqua dexará ondear al justo, “he will never let the righteous man be shaken”.^[9] Corominas dates the word only to 1490.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's General Estoria already used it of water forming waves.^[10][9] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave three senses: of water stirred by the wind, of a thing carried on the waves, and of folds in hair or cloth.^[11] Terreros (1786–1793) applied it to flags and pennants that wave in the air, the main sense today.^[12][13] In the slang of the underworld it meant “to sound out” (tantear), recorded by Hidalgo in 1609 and kept by the Academy into the 19th century.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1240–1272 – Hermann the German's translation of the Psalter has ondear.^[9]
• 1280 – the General Estoria uses it of rising waters.^[10]
• 1490 – first record in Corominas.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it as hazer ondas, Latin undo and fluctuo.^[16]
• 1571 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[17]
• 1609 – Hidalgo's slang vocabulary records the sense “to sound out”.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses of water, of things carried on waves and of folds.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To wave something, especially a flag or a handkerchief.^[13]
2. (intransitive) Of water: to form ripples or waves under the wind or a blow.^[13]
3. (intransitive) Of something flexible: to move in waves, flutter: Las cortinas ondeaban junto a la ventana abierta.^[13][1]

Related words

• ondular
• ondulación
• Latin unda

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. onda
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. unda
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
5. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. onejar
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. ondear
7. ^ 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. onda
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. ondear
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. ondear
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 39
12. ^ 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, 708
13. ^ 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. ondear
14. ^ a b Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 189
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 616
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 389
17. ^ 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. ondear