saludar

Forms

saludar (first-person singular present saludo, first-person singular preterite saludé, past participle saludado)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin salūtō (“to greet, hail”), through Old Spanish saludar, recorded from the Cantar de mio Cid on.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin verb is formed on salūs (“health, safety; greeting”), which belongs to the root of salvus (“safe, sound”).^[5][2][6]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese saudar, Galician saudar, Catalan saludar, French saluer, Italian salutare and Sardinian saludare; Romanian săruta means “to kiss”, a sense that Old Spanish also had.^[7][8][9] There is also a variant Galician soudar, and in Old Leonese the verb could mean “to save”.^[9]

De Vaan traces this adjective to Proto-Italic *salu- (“whole, healthy”) and Proto-Indo-European *slH-u- (“whole”), with cognates such as Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) already has the sense “to greet”: „saludadnos a mio Cid el de Bivar” “greet my Cid of Vivar for us”.^[10][11] It also uses the verb for a kiss of friendship: the Cid kisses the king's hands in homage and then „en la boca l saludó” “kissed him on the mouth”.^[11] Menéndez Pidal compares a gloss of the Glosas Silenses that renders Latin ad osculum “to the kiss” with salutare.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Berceo used the verb for honouring the Virgin, for touching or kissing a relic, and, as a noun, for “greetings”.^[12] Old Spanish also had salvar in the sense “to greet”, from the formula Dios vos salve.^[2]

In 1611 Covarrubias described a second sense, to heal by a gift of grace, as the saludadores did with livestock; he preferred to derive it from saliva, since they cured with their saliva.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades added “to express joy on reaching a desired goal” and “to proclaim someone king or emperor”.^[14] The Academy's 1817 edition has the gun salute and the healers' practice against rabies, and its 1843 edition “to send greetings”.^[15][16] Salvá recorded the sense “to get a smattering of a science”, mostly with a negative.^[17] Alemany has the nautical sense of dipping the flags.^[18] The noun saludo at first meant only a salute of guns; its modern sense entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884.^[2][3]

In Guatemala and Nicaragua saludar con sombrero ajeno means to take credit for someone else's merits.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it for “to greet” and “to kiss”.^[10][11]
• c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca: „don Gozimás luego la saluda” “Zosimas greets her at once”.^[10]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España has “to greet” and “to send greetings”.^[20]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Michoacán.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the saludadores and their cures.^[13]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the noun saludo only as a salute of guns.^[3][2]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the gun salute and the healers' practice.^[15]
• 1846 – Salvá records the sense “to get a smattering of a subject”.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin salutare.^[22]

Meanings

Verb

1. To greet: to address someone courteously on meeting or leaving them, saying hello, goodbye and the like: Siempre me saluda cuando nos cruzamos en la escalera.^[4][1]
2. To show respect or goodwill to someone with conventional signs, such as a wave or a bow.^[4][1]
3. To send greetings.^[4]
4. To welcome an event or fact.^[4]
5. Of a saludador, to use prayers, breath or saliva to cure or prevent rabies and other ills.^[4][23]
6. To get a first notion of a subject.^[4][23]
7. (nautical) Of a ship, to dip its flags briefly as a welcome or a farewell.^[4]
8. (military) To honour with gun salutes, movements of the arms or bugle calls.^[4]
9. (obsolete) To proclaim someone king or emperor.^[4]

Word family

• saludo
• saludador
• saluda

Related words

• salud
• salutación
• salvo
• salvar
• salve
• Latin salūtō
• Portuguese saudar

Usage notes

No saludar a alguien means to be on bad terms with them, and no saludarse to be at odds.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 142
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. salud
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. saludar
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 628
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
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. salutare
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. saludar
11. ^ a b c d Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 429
12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 689
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1281
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 32
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 783
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 653
17. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 976
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1484
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. saludar
20. ^ 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. saludar
21. ^ 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. saludar
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 955
23. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. saludar