salsa

Forms

salsa f (plural salsas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *salsa (“salted thing”), the noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”).^[2][3][1][4] The adjective is the past participle of sallō (“to salt”), from sal (“salt”).^[5][1][6] Corominas gives an older sense “place or thing full of salt”, dated 929, before the culinary one.^[2]

The same Vulgar Latin noun is Portuguese salsa, Catalan salsa, Old Occitan sausa, French sauce and Italian salsa.^[7][8] Spanish sosa, the plant and its salty ash, has the same Latin source.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, in an early 15th-century copy), where the dishes of game are each served con sus salsas “with their sauces”.^[9] Juan Manuel's Libro enfenido (1334–1340) lists salsas with spices and sweets.^[9] Corominas dates the sense “liquid seasoning for food” to about 1400.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades derived the word from sal, the main ingredient, and gave figurative senses: anything that whets the appetite, and the charms and graces that please whoever sees or hears them.^[10] The Quijote has the saying la mejor salsa del mundo es la hambre “hunger is the best sauce in the world”, and the Academy in 1817 recorded salsa de San Bernardo for hunger.^[11][12] In Mexico chili sauces are recorded from 1571.^[13]

In the late 20th century salsa became the name of a Caribbean dance music with Afro-Cuban roots, and of the dance; the Academy's dictionary of 2001 has the music.^[14][3] In Uruguay, Chile and Puerto Rico it can mean a beating, and in Cuba charm and ease of manner; in Andalusia it is a woman's charm.^[15][16] English borrowed the word for a sauce in 1846 and for the music in 1975.^[17]

Timeline

• 929 – first record, in the sense “place or thing full of salt”, according to Corominas.^[2]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has salsas served with game.^[9]
• 1334–1340 – Juan Manuel's Libro enfenido lists salsas among foods.^[9]
• c. 1400 – the sense “liquid seasoning” according to Corominas.^[2][18]
• 1495 – salsera, the sauce boat, is first recorded.^[2]
• 1571 – the first record from the Americas, a salsa de axí in Mexico City.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from salt, which usually goes into it.^[19]
• 1817 – the Academy records salsa de San Bernardo.^[12]
• 1846 – English borrows salsa for a sauce.^[17]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary includes the dance music.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sauce: a mixture of foods thinned or blended, used to dress or season a dish.^[3][1]
2. (Latin America) A sauce or dip, usually of tomato, onion and chili.^[1]
3. Something that enlivens or gives zest to something: El humor es la salsa de sus clases.^[3][20]
4. salsa, a popular dance music with Afro-Cuban roots, played by a band with Caribbean instruments and singers.^[3][1]
5. The dance done to salsa music.^[3][1]
6. (Uruguay, Chile, Puerto Rico) A violent beating.^[15]

Word family

• salsear
• salsera
• salserilla
• salsero

Related words

• sal
• salar
• salso
• sosa
• Latin salsus
• French sauce

Usage notes

Set phrases include en su salsa and en su propia salsa.^[1] Named sauces include salsa blanca and salsa bearnesa.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sal
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. salsa
4. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 681
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. salsa
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. salsus
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. salsa
9. ^ 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. salsa
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 28
11. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1003
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 781
13. ^ 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. salsa
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. salsa
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. salsa
16. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 563
17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 702
19. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1281
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. salsa