salina

Forms

salina f (plural salinas)^[1] Medieval documents also write sallinas and sayllinas.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish salina, inherited from Latin salīna (“salt-works”).^[3][1][4] The Academy, from 1884, and Moliner give the Latin plural ⟨salinae⟩ as the source.^[5][6][7] The Latin word is formed on sāl (“salt”).^[1][8]

The same Latin word is Catalan salina, Italian salina, French saline and Portuguese sainha.^[4][9]

De Vaan traces the Latin word for salt to the Indo-European noun for salt, Proto-Indo-European *sē̆h₂-l-s.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from a Mozarabic document of 1161, and the DEMel also lists a Mozarabic document of Toledo of that year.^[3][10][2] Alfonso X's Estoria de España (1270–1284) praises Spain for its sea salt, its salinas de tierra “salt works on land” and its rock salt.^[11] The sense in Old Spanish was a mine or deposit of salt.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija explained salinas as the place where salt is gathered.^[12] The Autoridades defined it as the place where salt is extracted, worked or formed, and Terreros added a lagoon or pond of salt water in which salt is made.^[13][14] Domínguez noted that it was mostly used in the plural.^[15] Alemany in 1917 separated the salt mine from the works where salt is obtained from sea water or from springs, the two senses of the modern dictionaries.^[16][6] The first record in the Americas is from Puerto Rico, in 1513: ir por sal a las salinas “to go for salt to the salt pans”.^[17] Today the word is also used of a basin without outflow in which very salty water has collected and evaporated, a salt flat.^[18]

Timeline

• 1070 – the DEMel's earliest record, salinas in a charter of San Vicente de Oviedo.^[2]
• 1161 – a Mozarabic document of Toledo, the DCECH's first record.^[3][10]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España speaks of the salinas of Spain.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses salinas with Latin salinae.^[12]
• 1513 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[17]
• 1726–1739 – the Autoridades defines the place where salt is made.^[13]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros adds the salt lagoon.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin salinae.^[5]
• 1917 – Alemany separates the salt mine from the salt works.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A salt mine.^[6][7][1]
2. (often in the plural) salt works or a salt pan where salt is obtained by evaporating sea water or the water of salt springs: Las salinas ocupan buena parte de la costa.^[6][7][1]
3. A salt flat: a closed basin where very salty water collects and evaporates.^[18]

Word family

• salinero

Related words

• sal
• salado
• salar
• salino
• Latin sāl
• Portuguese salina

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. salina
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 130
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 952
6. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. salina
7. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. salina
8. ^ 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
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. salina
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sal
11. ^ a b c 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. salina
12. ^ a b 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. salina
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 23
14. ^ a b 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. 3, 423
15. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1537
16. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1481
17. ^ 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. salina
18. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. salina