primavera

Forms

primavera f (plural primaveras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish primavera, inherited from Vulgar Latin prima vera (“the beginning of spring”).^[1][2][3] This Vulgar Latin form reshaped the classical phrase Latin prīmō vēre (“at the beginning of spring”), from prīmus (“first”) and vēr (“spring”).^[3][4][2] A gloss in the Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum already has Late Latin primaver.^[5][6] The REW explains the feminine ending by the influence of aestās (“summer”).^[6][7]

The same compound is Portuguese primavera, Galician primavera, Catalan primavera, Old Occitan primavera, Italian primavera and Romanian primăvară.^[6][1] The older French form was primevoire; its learned remake French primevère now names the primrose, a flower of early spring.^[8]

The Latin adjective is a superlative, from Proto-Italic *prīzmos, built on an obsolete preposition and perhaps going back to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“before, in front”).^[1][9] The noun for “spring” goes back to *wésr̥, like Ancient Greek ἔαρ (éar) and Old Church Slavonic весна (vesna).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest example is in Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Orosius (1376–1396), listing the seasons: que la primavera fuesse arrebatadament calient “that the spring should be suddenly hot”.^[11] Ferrer Sayol's Libro de Palladio (1380–1385) advises sowing en la primauera when the warmth begins.^[11][12] The DCECH, as reported by DICCA-XV, dates the word 1390, and the BDELC 1490.^[13][3]

Semantic evolution

Until the Golden Age the year had a different set of names: primavera meant only the beginning of the season now called spring, verano the end of spring and the start of summer, and estío the rest of the summer.^[3][4] Covarrubias in 1611 still explains the word as the entry of the verano.^[14] He also records primavera as a veil or silk cloth strewn with flowers, and Autoridades quotes a price list of 1680 for the silk primavera de Sevilla.^[14][15] Autoridades adds the figurative sense of anything brightly varied in colour.^[15]

The Academy's dictionary of 1843 adds the primrose and the time when something is at its height of vigour and beauty, and that of 1899 the astronomical definition.^[16][17] Today the plural counts the years of a young person, and colloquially the word describes a simple, gullible person.^[2][18][19] In Mexico it names the American robin and other thrushes, in Mexico and Central America a timber tree with yellow flowers, and in Bolivia, Chile and the River Plate a fruit drink.^[20][21] In eastern Cuba it names a migrant cuckoo seen in spring.^[22]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Heredia's translation of Orosius, the first record in the CDH.^[11]
• 1380–1385 – Ferrer Sayol's Libro de Palladio has the spelling primauera.^[11]
• 1607 – first record in the Americas, in Buenos Aires.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives the season and the flowered silk cloth.^[14]
• 1611 – the cloth primavera is sold in Guatemala City.^[23]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary adds the plant and the sense “prime”.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives an etymology, from Latin primus and ver.^[24]

Meanings

Noun

1. spring, the season that astronomically runs from the spring equinox to the summer solstice.^[2][1]
2. The mild season of the year: March, April and May in the northern hemisphere, September, October and November in the southern.^[2]
3. (botany) The primrose or cowslip, a perennial plant of the genus Primula with yellow flowers.^[2][18][1]
4. (usually in the plural) A year of age of a young person: Acaba de cumplir veinte primaveras.^[2][1]
5. (historical) A silk fabric strewn with flowers of many colours.^[2][15]
6. (figurative) Anything brightly varied in colour.^[2]
7. (figurative) The time when something is at its height of vigour and beauty; the prime.^[2][18]
8. (colloquial) A simple, gullible person; as an adjective, naive.^[2][18][1]
9. (Mexico) The American robin, Turdus migratorius.^[20][1]
10. (Mexico, Central America) A tall tree of the genus Tabebuia with bright yellow flowers, valued for its timber.^[20]

Word family

• primaveral

Related words

• verano
• primo
• primero
• Latin vēr

Usage notes

Rollo de primavera or rollito de primavera is a spring roll.^[2] In the sense “simpleton” the word is masculine or feminine according to the person.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. primavera
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. verano
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. primavera
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5221
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. primavera
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. primevère
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prīmus
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. primavera
12. ^ 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. primavera
13. ^ 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. primavera
14. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1230
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, 377
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 587
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 810
18. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. primavera
19. ^ León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, p. s.v. primavera
20. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. primavera
21. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 889
22. ^ Suárez, Constantino (1921), Vocabulario cubano, La Habana: Librería Cervantes / Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. 431
23. ^ a b 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. primavera
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 864