río

Forms

río m (plural ríos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish rio, inherited from Late Latin rīus, the reduced form of Latin rīvus (“brook; channel”) that inscriptions and other vulgar texts often show.^[2][1][3] García de Diego likewise derives the Castilian, Portuguese and Galician words from the reduced form, and the Catalan one from the full form.^[4]

The Latin word left traces in every Romance language: Portuguese rio, Galician río, Asturian ríu, Catalan riu, Occitan riu, French ru, Italian rio and Romanian râu.^[2][5][1] Only the three Ibero-Romance languages and some Gascon dialects widened its sense to that of flūmen (“river”) or fluvius; in Pyrenean Catalan it can still mean a large brook.^[2] In medieval Catalan the word was used only for minor rivers.^[6] The French word still means “brook”.^[7]

The Latin word goes back to *rīwos (“stream”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃riH-wós (“whirling”), from the root *h₃reyH- (“to stream, churn”).^[8][1] Its cognates include Old English rīð (“stream, brook”) and Old High German rinnan (“to drip”).^[8] The Latin derivative rīvālis, first “one who shares a stream”, was taken into Spanish as rival.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 912, followed by others of the 11th and 12th centuries.^[2][9] From the start the Castilian word meant a sizeable watercourse, as in Berceo's corrié un río bono cerca de la mongía “a good river ran near the monastery”.^[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) speaks of el río de Martín.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In 1490 Alonso de Palencia set out the Latin words for rivers of different sizes, and Nebrija gave flumen for río, torrens for a river that dries up and amnis for a perennial one.^[2] In the prose of Alfonso X the word also names the constellation Eridanus and any continuous stream of a liquid.^[11] The Academy's 1817 edition gave the transferred sense of a great abundance of a liquid, the obsolete phrase apear el río “to ford it on foot”, and the proverb a río revuelto, ganancia de pescadores.^[12] The DLE adds “a flow of people”.^[13] In some regions the names of certain rivers are used without the article (Guadiana, Tajo).^[2]

The first record from the Americas, of 1529, names the Río de la Plata.^[14] In Bolivia río mar is a navigable river.^[15]

Timeline

• 912 – a charter, the first record.^[2][9]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has el río de Martín (in a 14th-century copy).^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario calls the constellation Eridanus ryo.^[11]
• 1490 – first record of the diminutive riacho, in Alonso de Palencia.^[9]
• 1495 – Nebrija records ría “river mouth”.^[9][2]
• 1529 – the first record from the Americas, naming the Río de la Plata.^[14]
• 1548 – first record of riachuelo.^[9]
• 1817 – the Academy records the proverb a río revuelto, ganancia de pescadores.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A river: a continuous natural stream of water that flows into another, into a lake or into the sea: El pueblo se levanta en la orilla izquierda del río.^[13][1]
2. A great abundance of a liquid, and by extension of anything: Por la calle bajaba un río de barro.^[13][16]
3. A stream of people: Un río de aficionados llenó la plaza.^[13][17]

Word family

• ría
• riacho
• riada
• enriar
• riachuelo

Related words

• rival
• derivar
• Latin rīvus
• Portuguese rio
• Catalan riu

Usage notes

Fixed expressions include a río revuelto, ganancia de pescadores, said of those who profit from confusion, pescar a río revuelto and cuando el río suena, agua lleva “where there is smoke there is fire”.^[16][12] Correr ríos de tinta is said of a matter much written about.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 27
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. río
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. rivus
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. rivus
6. ^ 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. 7, 339
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ru
8. ^ a b c 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 d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. río
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. río
11. ^ 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. río
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 766
13. ^ a b c d e 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. río
14. ^ 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. río
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. río
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. río
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. río