sobresalto

Forms

sobresalto m (plural sobresaltos)^[1]

Etymology

Wiktionary forms it from Spanish sobre- + salto, while the DLE, the Wikcionario and DICCA-XV derive it from the verb sobresaltar.^[1][2][3][4] The noun is recorded more than a century before the verb, which Segura dates to 1607.^[5][6] salto continues saltus (“leap”).^[7]

Wartburg suspected that the verb and the noun came from Occitan, and Corominas thinks him probably right, although it is not proved; the French word soubresaut goes back to the 14th century.^[8] Echegaray compared Catalan sobresalt, sursaut and Italian soprassalto.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in 15th-century poetry: Juan de Mena (c. 1438–1456) praises a lord as de amigos dulçe reposo, de enemigos sobresalto “sweet rest for his friends, a sudden alarm for his enemies”.^[6] About 1449 Fernando de la Torre uses it for a sudden attack, from which the citizens took refuge.^[6] DICCA-XV dates its own first record 1450–1490.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Percyvall glossed it in 1591 as “a sudden passion”.^[10] A text from Mexico of 1532 uses dar de sobresalto for falling on a town by surprise, and the phrase de sobresalto “unexpectedly” is in Autoridades.^[11][12] Autoridades defines the noun as a sudden fear or fright; the Academy's dictionary of 1817 adds a sudden, unforeseen attack, and that of 1843 the feeling caused by a sudden, unexpected event.^[12][13][14] Alemany adds in 1917 a caper or curvet made by a horse.^[15] Baralt objected in 1855 that its use for a sudden physical jump, as of a carriage or a horse, imitated French soubresaut; he reports that Clemencín had already criticised Cervantes's los sobresaltos que me dio el corazón.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1295 – DEMel cites the Gran conquista de Ultramar through a glossary.^[17]
• c. 1438–1456 – Juan de Mena, the first record in the CDH.^[6]
• c. 1449 – Fernando de la Torre uses it for a surprise attack.^[6]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[11]
• 1539 – Segura's first date.^[5]
• 1591 – Percyvall: “a sudden passion”.^[10]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the noun and de sobresalto.^[12]
• 1855 – Baralt condemns the sense “sudden jump” as a gallicism.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A start, jolt: the sensation caused by a sudden, unforeseen event.^[2][18]
2. A sudden fright or scare: Se despertó con un sobresalto al oír el teléfono.^[2][19]

Related words

• sobresaltar
• salto
• saltar
• resalto
• French soubresaut

Usage notes

The phrase de sobresalto means “unexpectedly, without warning”.^[2][12] Sobresalto is also the first person singular present of sobresaltar.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. sobresalto
3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. sobresalto
5. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 681
6. ^ 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. sobresalto
7. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. saltar
8. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 141
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 357
10. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 215
11. ^ a b 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. sobresalto
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 130
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 808
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 672
15. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1525
16. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 661
17. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sobresalto
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sobresalto
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sobresalto