sabor

Forms

sabor m (plural sabores)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write ssabor and sauor, and run the preposition into it in asabor.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sapor (“taste, flavour”), a noun formed on sapiō (“to taste of; to be wise”) with the suffix -or.^[3][4][1][5] The verb itself became saber, which took over the sense “to know” from scire.^[6]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese sabor, Catalan sabor, Occitan sabor, French saveur and Italian sapore.^[7][8]

De Vaan reconstructs the Latin verb as Proto-Italic *sapi-, from Proto-Indo-European *sh₁p-i- (“to notice”), and compares Old High German int-seffen (“to notice, taste”); the laryngeal inside the root is uncertain, and Wiktionary gives the root as *seh₁p- (“to try, research”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy): con estos cavalleros que·l' sirven a so sabor “with these knights who serve him to his liking”.^[10][3] The sense there is “liking, pleasure”; the taste of food appears in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where manna tastes como brescas de myel “like honeycomb”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the word for taste, for the impression something leaves on the mind, for desire and for pleasure: Alfonso X's Lapidario has a stone that gives off a sabor dulce como miel “a taste sweet as honey”, and the General Estoria says that Jabal auie ende grand sabor “took great delight in it”.^[11] Berceo uses a su sabor for “at one's own whim” and malos sabores for “troubles”.^[12] From the same word came saboroso, contracted to sabroso (1220–1250), and dessaborido, contracted to desabrido (1240).^[3]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines the word as the pleasant or unpleasant savour that taste finds in things, and records a sabor “at one's pleasure”.^[13] In 1817 the Academy added the sense “beads on a horse's bit” and marked “desire” as old.^[14] Today it also names a resemblance to a style (de sabor clásico), and in Mexico, colloquially, a seasoning.^[4][1][15] The Spanish Wiktionary records its use in physics for the flavour of quarks.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has a so sabor “to his liking”.^[10][3]
• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar uses it for the taste of manna.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – first record of sabroso.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of a sabor dulce como miel.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives sabor de manjar “taste of a dish” as Latin sapor.^[17]
• 1539 – first record of sinsabor “trouble, sorrow”.^[18]
• 1599 – first record of saborear.^[3]
• 1817 – the Academy records the beads on a horse's bit and marks the sense “desire” as old.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. taste, flavour: the sensation some substances produce in the organ of taste: Este helado tiene sabor a limón.^[4][1]
2. The impression something leaves on the mind: Aquel viaje tuvo para ella un sabor agridulce.^[4][15]
3. A resemblance to a style or manner: una plaza de sabor andaluz.^[4][19]
4. (usually plural) Each of the elongated beads put on a horse's bit to refresh its mouth.^[4]
5. (Mexico, colloquial) A seasoning.^[1][15]
6. (obsolete) Desire or wish for something.^[4]

Word family

• saborear
• saborizante
• saborizar
• sabroso
• desabrido
• sinsabor

Related words

• saber
• Latin sapor
• French saveur

Usage notes

A sabor means “at one's pleasure”, and a sabor de su paladar (colloquial) “just as one likes”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sabor
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. saber
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. sabor
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. sapor
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 111
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sapor
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sapor
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. sabor
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. sabor
12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 680
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 5
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 776
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sabor
16. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sabor
17. ^ 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. sabor
18. ^ 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. 711
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sabor