sentimiento

Forms

sentimiento m (plural sentimientos)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote sintimiento and sentimjento.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish sentir + -miento, the verb with the suffix of action nouns.^[1][4][5][3] Wiktionary also connects it with Medieval Latin sentimentum, which Du Cange records in the senses “opinion” and “feeling”.^[1][6] The verb continues Latin sentiō (“to perceive by the senses; to think”).^[3]

The same formation is Portuguese sentimento, Catalan sentiment, French sentiment and Italian sentimento.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Moamín of Abraham of Toledo (1250, in a 13th-century copy), a book on hunting birds, which wants them d'agudo sentimiento “of keen perception”.^[7] Corominas's first record is the Setenario of about 1250, with the form sintimiento: plants have a body and a soul to grow, mas non con sintimiento nin con rrazón “but not with feeling or reason”.^[3][8][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word already moved from perception by the senses to grief: Alfonso X's General estoria calls the heart of the Jews hard and sin sentimiento “without feeling”, and the prose translation of the Cantigas (before 1284) joins grand sentimiento e dolor.^[9][7] Nebrija gave Latin sensus.^[10]

The Diccionario de Autoridades had three senses: perception by the senses, the soul's inner perception of spiritual things (from Saint Teresa: un sentimiento de la presencia de Dios) and grief that deeply affects a person.^[11] The Academy's 1817 edition added a crack that threatens the ruin of a building, a grievance against someone, and an opinion or judgement.^[12] The modern dictionaries centre on the affective state, love, hate, tenderness, and on sorrow at a sad event.^[13][14][15]

In Mexico, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Chile and rural Ecuador sentimiento is popularly “resentment”.^[16] In the Canaries hacer sentimiento was said of a natural phenomenon losing force, and of a plant wilting after being transplanted.^[17]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín (in a 13th-century copy).^[7][18]
• c. 1250 – the Setenario has sintimiento, the first record for Corominas.^[3][8]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria: duro sin sentimiento.^[9]
• before 1284 – the translation of the Cantigas de Santa María, the first record without a later copy, in the sense “grief”.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin sensus.^[10]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City, for a widow's grief.^[19]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the sensory, spiritual and sorrowful senses.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy adds “crack in a building” and “grievance”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or effect of feeling (sentir) or being affected.^[13]
2. A feeling, an affective state of mind: Le costaba expresar sus sentimientos.^[13][1]
3. grief, sorrow at a sad or painful event.^[14][15]
4. (Mexico, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Chile, rural Ecuador; popular) resentment (resentimiento).^[16]

Word family

• sentimental
• sentimentalismo

Related words

• sentir
• sentido
• resentimiento
• consentimiento
• Latin sentiō

Usage notes

Le acompaño en el sentimiento is a set formula of condolence.^[15] In fencing, sentimiento del hierro is the fencer's feel for the blade, which carries the sense of touch to the point of the weapon.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. sentimiento
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 208
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. sentimiento
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sentimiento
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. sentimiento
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sentir
9. ^ 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. sentimiento
10. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 415
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 83
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 795
13. ^ a b c d 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. sentimiento
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. sentimiento
15. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sentimiento
16. ^ 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. sentimiento
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. sentimiento
18. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. sentimiento
19. ^ 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. sentimiento