serio

Forms

serio (feminine seria, masculine plural serios, feminine plural serias, superlative serísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sērius (“weighty, important, serious”), a learned word first recorded in 1626.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas finds it neither in Alonso de Palencia, Nebrija, Casas, Oudin or Covarrubias, nor in the vocabulary of Góngora or the Quijote.^[2] In classical Latin the adjective was used of things (the neuter plural meant “serious matters”), while sevērus was used of persons and things;^[5][6] Spanish applied it to persons as well.^[5][6]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Portuguese sério in the 17th century and as Italian serio.^[7][8][1]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sērjo- and Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-ro- (“slow, heavy”), and rejects the older comparison with Germanic words for “heavy” such as Old High German swāri, because an initial /sw/ before a long /eː/ would have kept its /w/ in Latin; he suggests that the word may come from sērus (“slow”), through “tiring” and “heavy” to “weighty”.^[9] The OLD still compares the Germanic words.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in Corral, in 1626.^[2][3] Autoridades quotes Corral: „Reiraste, huesped discreto, de que una muger trate contigo de tan serios discursos” “you will laugh, wise guest, that a woman should hold such serious talk with you”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The noun seriedad is recorded earlier than the adjective, in Aldana (died 1578).^[2][3] Autoridades defines serio as grave and composed in conduct, stern in look or speech, and real and sincere, without deceit or jest.^[11] Terreros opposes it to bufón “jesting” (una pieza seria).^[12] The Academy's 1843 edition adds “grave, important” (negocio serio, enfermedad seria) and “solemn”,^[13] and the 1869 edition the contrast with comic genres (ópera seria against ópera bufa).^[14]

Moliner and the DLE add the senses “not laughing, looking worried or displeased”, “reliable, responsible” and, of clothes and colours, “sober”.^[15][4] In Puerto Rico serio “grave, dangerous” is taken as an anglicism after serious.^[16] Cuba has enseriarse “to become serious”.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1578 – the noun seriedad in Aldana.^[2]
• 1626 – the first record of serio, in Corral.^[2][3]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it and quotes Corral.^[11]
• 1760 – the first records from the Americas, in Bogotá.^[17]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “grave, important”.^[13]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the contrast in ópera seria.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. serius”.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. serious, grave, composed in conduct; not given to laughing: Su abuelo era un hombre serio y callado.^[4][15][1]
2. (of an action) Befitting a serious person.^[4]
3. stern in face, look or speech; looking worried or displeased: Se puso serio al oír la noticia.^[4][15]
4. Real, sincere, without deceit or joking.^[4][1]
5. Grave, important: Tuvo un accidente serio.^[4][1]
6. reliable, responsible: un proveedor serio.^[15]
7. (of a genre) Opposed to comic or burlesque: ópera seria.^[4]
8. (of clothes, colours) sober, not showy.^[15]

Word family

• seriedad
• seriamente
• enseriar

Related words

• Latin sērius
• Portuguese sério
• Italian serio

Usage notes

En serio means “seriously, without joking” (hablar en serio, tomarse en serio).^[4][1] The adjective is not related to seriar “to arrange in series”, which is formed from serie.^[1]

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 g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 221
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. serio
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. serio
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. serio
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3066
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sério
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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 96
12. ^ 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, 475
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 664
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 710
15. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. serio
16. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. serio
17. ^ 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. serio
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 971