pinta

Forms

pinta f (plural pintas)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Spanish pintar: Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that verb, which continues Vulgar Latin *pinctāre, formed on *pinctus, the popular past participle of Latin pingō (“to paint”) in place of classical pictus.^[2] The Academy's 1899 dictionary, VOX and DICCA-XV also derive the noun from the verb.^[3][4][5]

The DRAE of 2001 derived it instead from the adjective pinto “spotted”, and the current DLE lists its senses under that adjective, which continues the old participle.^[6][7] Corominas also counts the noun among the traces of that participle used as an adjective.^[2] The DTME traces it straight to pincta (“painted”), a Latin feminine participle.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is the hunting treatise Moamín translated by Abraham of Toledo in 1250, in a copy of the second half of the 13th century: northern goshawks are blacker, e las pintas de los pechos que tornan más en negro “and the spots on their breasts turn more to black”.^[9] Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of a stone that removes las pintas que an los omnes en las caras “the spots men have on their faces”.^[9][10] Corominas's first record is later, an Aragonese inventory of 1374.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 gave the mark on the edge of playing cards, by which one knows the suit, and pintas for the fever also called tabardillo.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades added “drop” and a card game called pintas.^[12] The sense “appearance of a person or thing” appears in the Guzmán de Alfarache of 1599, and in 1843 the Academy defined the figurative sense as the outward sign by which the good or bad quality of things is known.^[2][13][14] In much of Spain it also means “face, likeness”: in Salamanca brothers are recognised por la pinta.^[2][15][16]

As a masculine noun, un pinta is a rogue, a sense the DLE derives from this word.^[17][18] In Colombia and Bolivia pinta is smart new clothing, in Mexico and Venezuela a painted slogan on a wall, and in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Venezuela the plural names a way of forecasting the year's weather from the days of January.^[19] In New Mexican Spanish la pinta is the penitentiary.^[20][1] In medicine it names a skin disease caused by a treponeme, a sense recorded since 1588.^[8]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín uses pintas for the spots on hawks' breasts (in a later 13th-century copy).^[9]
• c. 1250 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for spots on the face.^[9]
• 1374 – first record for Corominas, in an Aragonese inventory.^[2]
• 1588 – first record of the name of the skin disease.^[8]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “a spot”.^[21]
• 1599 – the sense “appearance” appears.^[13][2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the mark on playing cards and the fever pintas.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy gives the sense “outward sign of quality”.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy derives it from pintar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small spot or mark on the plumage, hair or skin of animals, or in a mineral: Es un perro blanco con pintas negras.^[7][6][1]
2. A dot or polka dot used as decoration.^[7][18]
3. A drop of water or another liquid.^[7]
4. The mark at the edge of Spanish playing cards that shows the suit without uncovering them.^[7]
5. The card turned up at the start of a game, which sets the trumps.^[7]
6. Look, appearance, by which the good or bad quality of a person or thing is judged: Ese guiso tiene una pinta estupenda.^[7][1]
7. (Cuba) The pattern and colours of a fabric.^[7]
8. (in the plural) An old card game like parar.^[7]
9. (in the plural) Typhus.^[7]
10. (in the plural, Costa Rica) cabañuelas, the forecasting of the year's weather.^[7]
11. (masculine, colloquial) A rogue, a scoundrel: Su cuñado es un pinta.^[17][18]
12. (Colombia, Bolivia) Smart clothes, usually new.^[19][1]

Related words

• pintar
• pinto
• pintura
• pintado

Usage notes

Pinta “pint”, the measure of liquids, has a separate origin, probably French pinte, and Corominas finds it first in the French–Spanish part of Oudin's dictionary and in the Diccionario de Autoridades, never as a popular word.^[22][23][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 558
3. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 782
4. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. pinta
5. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. pinta
6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. pinta
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. pinto
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. pinta
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pinta
10. ^ 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. pinta
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1215
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 276
13. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 567
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 565
15. ^ Lamano y Beneite, José de (1915), El dialecto vulgar salmantino, Salamanca: Tipografía Popular, p. 578
16. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 486
17. ^ a b c 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. pinta
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pinta
19. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. pinta
20. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 154
21. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 190
22. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 557
23. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pinta