sórdido

Forms

sórdido (feminine sórdida, masculine plural sórdidos, feminine plural sórdidas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sordidus (“dirty, filthy; mean, base”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is formed from sordeō (“to be dirty”) with the suffix -idus, and belongs with sordēs (“dirt, filth”).^[5][1][2]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *swordi- (“dirt”) or *swordo- (“dirty”).^[6] Following Nussbaum, he compares Proto-Germanic *swartaz (“black”), the source of Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌰𐍂𐍄𐍃 (swarts) and Old High German swarz, through a root Proto-Indo-European *sword-, and finds no further Indo-European connection.^[6][1]

García de Diego records a popular outcome, sordo (“dirty”), in Guadalajara and compares Portuguese churdo.^[7] Echegaray compares Italian sordido and French sordide.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Juan de Mena in 1435, in the sense “indecent, unworthy”.^[2][3] Corominas calls it an individual, arbitrary Latinism of this very learned poet, which found no echo at first: it is missing from Alonso de Palencia, Nebrija, Oudin and Covarrubias.^[2] Góngora and the Quijote do not use it either.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades quotes the Prince of Esquilache (1651) and Palomino (1708), and the word spread from then on until it became common in literary style.^[2] Autoridades recognised only the sense “dirty”, but its quotations point rather to moral senses such as “base, ignoble”; in Corominas's time the commonest sense was “avaricious”, and Cotarelo condemned its rare use as a synonym of sordo “deaf”.^[2] Terreros glossed it “mean, stingy”.^[9]

The Academy defined it in 1817 as “dirty” and figuratively “impure, indecent or scandalous”, and added “mean, miserly” in 1843.^[10][11] Today's dictionary lists “stained, dirty”, “indecent”, “wretched or very poor” and a medical sense of ulcers.^[4] In the Americas it appears from 1722, in Yucatán, of a shabby, slovenly habit.^[12]

Timeline

• 1435 – Juan de Mena uses it for “indecent, unworthy”.^[2][3]
• 1651 – the Prince of Esquilache, quoted by Autoridades.^[2]
• 1708 – Palomino, quoted by Autoridades.^[2]
• 1722 – the first record from the Americas, in Yucatán.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy defines “dirty” and figuratively “indecent”.^[10]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “mean, miserly”.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin sordidus.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dirty, stained, squalid: un portal sórdido.^[4][14][1]
2. Impure, indecent or scandalous; sordid, sleazy.^[4][1]
3. Wretched, very poor.^[4]
4. Mean, stingy, miserly.^[15][14][1]
5. (medicine) Of an ulcer, discharging a thin, foul fluid.^[4][14]

Word family

• sordidez

Related words

• Latin sordidus
• Italian sordido
• French sordide

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 310
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sórdido
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. sórdido
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sordidus
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. sordēs
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sórdido
8. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 380
9. ^ 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. 4, 192
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 814
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 677
12. ^ 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. sórdido
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 928
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sórdido
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. sórdido