soberbia

Forms

soberbia f (plural soberbias)^[1] Old Spanish texts write soberuia, sobervia, superbia, suberuia and ssoberuya;^[2][3] Navarrese has suberbia.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin superbia (“pride, haughtiness”), from superbus (“haughty, proud”).^[4][5][1][6] Wiktionary explains the vowel: the /j/ of the last syllable raised the stressed vowel and kept it from becoming a diphthong.^[1] Corominas notes that the adjective soberbio took its ending from the noun.^[7][5] Bénaben, by contrast, calls the noun a borrowing from Latin.^[8]

The Latin noun also gave Portuguese soberba, and it is Italian superbia; the noun French superbe, recorded about 1120, was borrowed from the Latin adjective.^[9][1][10] The adjective is usually analysed as super (“above”) with an element -bus from Proto-Indo-European *-bʰos, perhaps from the root *bheu- (“to grow”), so that it meant “growing above the others”.^[10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest Romance hit with the Spanish form is La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy): la sobervia de to coraçon te engenno “the pride of your heart has deceived you”.^[11] The Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211) has the Latin spelling: Judas Maccabeus entered the temple con grant superbia e con grant orguello “with great pride and arrogance”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the word meant haughtiness and arrogance, and in the laws also an injurious word or deed.^[12] Berceo used it with the derivatives soberbio and soberbioso.^[7][13] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) defined it as an inordinate desire to be preferred to others, one of the seven deadly sins, and added self-satisfaction with contempt for others and excess of magnificence, especially in buildings.^[14] The Academy's 1843 edition added anger shown in violent acts or insulting words, and marked the sense “injurious word or deed” as obsolete.^[15]

Moliner notes that, unlike orgullo, soberbia never names a harmless or praiseworthy quality.^[16] In the Dominican Republic it means spite.^[17]

Timeline

• 1192 – DEMel's first record, in the Fuero of the kingdom of León.^[2]
• c. 1194–1211 – the Liber Regum writes superbia.^[11]
• c. 1200 – sobervia in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century copy).^[11]
• 1220–1250 – first record according to the BDELC;^[5][7] Corominas cites Berceo.^[5][7]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it for the arrogance of an enemy.^[12]
• 1495 – the derivative ensoberbecer.^[5]
• 1550 – first record in the Americas, in Chile.^[18]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades counts it among the seven deadly sins.^[14]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “anger” and the obsolete “injurious word or deed”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. haughtiness; an inordinate desire to be preferred to others; pride as a deadly sin.^[4][1]
2. Self-satisfaction in one's own gifts, with contempt for others: Su soberbia le impedía pedir ayuda.^[4][16]
3. Excessive magnificence or pomp, especially of a building.^[4]
4. anger or rage shown in violent acts or insulting words.^[4][16]
5. (obsolete) An injurious word or deed.^[4]
6. (Dominican Republic) spite.^[17]

Word family

• ensoberbecer
• soberbioso
• soberbiar

Related words

• soberbio
• sobre
• soberano
• Portuguese soberba

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. soberbia
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 6484
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. soberbia
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. soberbia
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 277
8. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. soberbia
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3122
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. superbe
11. ^ 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. soberbia
12. ^ 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. soberbia
13. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 721
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 124
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 670
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. soberbia
17. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. soberbia
18. ^ 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. soberbia