peligroso

Forms

peligroso (feminine peligrosa, masculine plural peligrosos, feminine plural peligrosas)^[1] Old Spanish had perigloso, periglosa, peligloso and perillosa beside peligroso.^[2][3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Old Spanish perigloso, inherited from Latin perīculōsus (“dangerous”), a semi-learned word like peligro.^[1][4][2][5] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that noun, and Wiktionary allows either analysis: the noun plus the suffix -oso, or a semi-learned borrowing of the Latin adjective.^[2][1] The Latin adjective is formed on perīculum (“trial, risk, danger”) with -ōsus.^[6][1] The noun comes from the same root as perītus (“experienced”) and experior (“to try”);^[2][5] Wiktionary connects it, with doubts, with Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to go through, attempt”).^[1]

The modern form arose by metathesis of the liquids.^[1] Following Cuervo, Corominas notes that by Grammont's laws this change is explained in the derivatives, the verb peligrar and this adjective, rather than in the noun; he adds that early Castilian disliked the groups ⟨gl⟩ and ⟨cl⟩, which gave perigro, then the modern noun by dissimilation.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese perigoso, Galician perigoso, Asturian peligrosu, Catalan perillós, French périlleux (from perilleus), Italian pericoloso and English perilous.^{[7][8][9][10][1]} Old Portuguese had perigoso and perigoosa in the 13th century and peligroso in the 14th.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is perigloso in Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora (317c).^[2][5] Cabrera quotes another line of the Milagros: Essa salvo a Peidro enna mar periglosa “she saved Peter on the perilous sea”.^[12] In Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) a stone is found far from settlements in places peligrosos for lack of water and for venomous animals.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija renders the word by Latin periculosus and periclitans.^[14] Autoridades defines it as “having risk or able to cause harm”, and figuratively as said of a turbulent, reckless person; it cites Covarrubias for the sense “one who is in danger of death”.^[15] That passive sense appears in the Americas: in Puebla in 1572 a pregnant woman with a pain in her side has been muy peligrosa “in great danger”, and in Bogotá in 1588 a man is enfermo y muy peligroso.^[16] The Academy kept the figurative sense for people, and the DLE now defines it as a person who may cause harm or commit crimes.^[17][4]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – perigloso in Berceo's Milagros.^[2][5]
• 1250–1279 – logares peligrosos in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[13]
• 1272 – the spelling peligroso in Alfonso X's prose (HSMS siglum GE5).^[18]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin periculosus.^[14]
• 1572 – Puebla: muy peligrosa of a sick woman, the first American record.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the literal and the figurative sense.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin periculosus.^[19]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Dangerous, perilous: risky, or able to cause harm: Esa curva es muy peligrosa de noche.^[4][1]
2. Of a person: likely to cause harm or to commit crimes: un preso peligroso.^[4][20]
3. (dated) Of a sick person: in danger, gravely ill.^[16][15]

Word family

• peligrosidad

Related words

• peligro
• peligrar
• Latin perīculōsus
• Portuguese perigoso

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 463
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. peligroso
4. ^ 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. peligroso
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. peligro
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. periculosus
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. peligrosu
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. perillós
10. ^ 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. 564
11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. perigoso
12. ^ Cabrera, Ramón (1837), Diccionario de etimologías de la lengua castellana, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta de Marcos Bueno, p. s.v. peligroso
13. ^ 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. peligroso
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 395
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 192
16. ^ a b c 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. peligroso
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 655
18. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. peligroso
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 759
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. peligroso