seso

Forms

seso m (plural sesos)^[1] Aljamiado Old Spanish also has xexo, and Asturian xixo and xixa.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sēnsus (“perception, sense, understanding”), the action noun of sentiō (“to feel, perceive”).^{[3][4][5][1][6]} Corominas notes that the Latin word survives as a popular word only in Castilian and Portuguese.^[4] The Portuguese and Galician form is Portuguese siso and Galician siso.^[2] In the other Romance languages the corresponding words, such as Italian senso and French sens, are learned.^[7] Spanish has the learned words of the same family sensato and sentido.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses the word for “discretion, prudence”: the knights ride out so que sopiessen los otros de qué seso era Álbar Fáñez “that the others might know what good sense Álvar Fáñez had”.^[8][9][3]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used seso for judgement and prudence, for a wise act, for advice (Don Juan Manuel's master que non había otro oficio nin otro mester sinon vender sesos “who had no other trade than selling advice”), for each of the five bodily senses and for the meaning of words.^[4] Alfonso X's prose has the senses “understanding”, “meaning”, “opinion” and “prudence”.^[10]

The sense “brain” appears with Nebrija, who glosses sesos with meollos and Latin cerebrum (1495).^[4][3] Covarrubias explains it as the seat of the common sense and the inner senses, and records falto de seso “lacking sense” and hablar en seso “to speak in earnest”.^[11] Autoridades defines the brain first, mostly in the plural, and judgement as a metaphorical sense.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 puts “cerebrum” and “brain matter” first and marks “sense” and “opinion” as obsolete, as the DLE still does.^[13][5]

Phrases include devanarse los sesos “to rack one's brains”, calentarse los sesos and the obsolete beberse el seso “to lose one's head”.^[5][14] In Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador seso vegetal is the ackee tree, and in Cuba and Chile seso hueco is a dull person.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses seso for “prudence”.^[8][3]
• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy): Dem seso el Criador “may the Creator give me understanding”.^[8]
• mid-13th century – the derivative sesudo “sensible”.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses seso for the mind kept in old age.^[10]
• 1495 – Nebrija's sesos “brains”, the first record of the sense.^[4][3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the brain as the seat of the senses.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy puts the sense “brain” first.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The brain, the cerebrum.^[5][1]
2. (usually in the plural) The mass of nerve tissue inside the skull; brains, also as food: Pidió sesos rebozados de segundo.^[5][14]
3. Good sense, prudence, maturity: Ese chico tiene muy poco seso.^[5][14]
4. (obsolete) The faculty of perceiving through the senses.^[5]
5. (obsolete) The meaning of words.^[5][10]
6. (obsolete) Opinion, judgement.^[5]

Word family

• sesudo
• sesada
• asesar
• sesera

Related words

• sentido
• sentir
• sensato
• Latin sensus
• Portuguese siso

Usage notes

A separate word seso, from Latin sessus (“a sitting, settling”), is the stone, brick or iron used to wedge a cooking pot so that it stands firm.^[5][5][16] Corominas calls it a Mozarabic variant of sieso “anus”, from the same Latin word.^[17] Autoridades quotes the proverb La que no pone seso a la olla, no le tiene en la toca “she who does not wedge the pot has no sense under her headdress”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6054
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seso
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 208
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. seso
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ 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. seso
9. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 443
10. ^ 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. seso
11. ^ 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. 1296
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 104
13. ^ 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. 973
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seso
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
16. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6100
17. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 205