soldar

Forms

soldar (first-person singular present sueldo, first-person singular preterite soldé, past participle soldado)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Old Spanish soldar, inherited from Latin solidō (“to make solid, consolidate”).^[2][1][3] In classical Latin the verb meant “to consolidate, harden”; the sense “to solder” is late, and already in Avitus around the year 500.^[4][3] The Latin verb is formed on solidus (“solid, whole”),^[5][6] which de Vaan reconstructs as Proto-Indo-European *solh₂-i-dʰh₁-o- (“entire”) and connects with salvus (“safe”) and sollus (“whole”).^[7]

The same Latin verb gave Portuguese soldar, Catalan soldar, Aranese suda, French souder (from solder) and Italian saldare (in the 13th century with ⟨o⟩).^[8][9] Its learned doublet is solidar; sueldo continues the Latin adjective in its Late Latin use as the name of a gold coin.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb to Alfonso de Palencia (1490) and Nebrija, but the DPCAX has it earlier in Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279): a stone mixed with water makes a strong glue that bookbinders and carpenters use en soldar las taulas “to join the boards”.^[4][3][10] An astronomical text of 1277 uses it for caulking: suelda la con cera & con resina assi cuemo sueldan las naues “seal it with wax and resin, as ships are sealed”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija renders soldar by Latin solido and consolido, soldar travando “to join by interlocking” by committo, and soldar con plomo “to solder with lead” by applumbo.^[11][12] Covarrubias defines it as joining something of metal, “as if solidar”.^[13] Autoridades has it for joining something naturally or artificially, with a quotation from Laguna's Dioscorides on earthworms that sueldan los nervios cortados “knit severed sinews”, and figuratively for mending a blunder with deeds or words, quoting the Celestina.^[14] The Academy's 1843 dictionary adds that it is said properly of metals.^[15]

The healing sense is old in the Americas too: in 1548 a writer in Santo Domingo says that whoever is hurt nunca suelda su dolor “never heals his pain”, and in 1549 a remedy suelda a broken leg or arm.^[16] Cervantes writes that riches can soldar muchas quiebras “mend many breaches”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario: soldar las taulas.^[10]
• 1277 – the sense “to caulk” in Alfonso X's prose.^[10]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia, Corominas's first record, with soldadura.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin solido and consolido.^[11][12]
• 1516 – first record from the Americas, Puerto Rico: a forge.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as joining metal.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the literal and the figurative senses.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology, Latin solidare “to consolidate”.^[18]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also pronominal) To weld or solder: to join two things, or two parts of one thing, solidly, usually with a substance like them: Hay que soldar la pata rota de la silla.^[2][1]
2. (also pronominal) Of bones and other things: to knit, to join firmly together: El hueso se soldó en pocas semanas.^[19][20]
3. (figurative) To put right or make up for a blunder with deeds or words.^[2][14]

Word family

• desoldar
• soldador
• soldadura
• soldeo

Related words

• solidar
• sólido
• sueldo
• Latin solidō
• Portuguese soldar

Usage notes

Soldar is conjugated like contar: sueldo, sueldas, suelda.^[14][21] Cuervo in Bogotá and Román in Chile criticised the regular forms soldo, soldas.^[22][23] Old Spanish also had a rarer verb soldar “to pay (a soldier)”, related to soldada “wages”, in the Libro de Alexandre and the Libro de Apolonio.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. soldar
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sueldo
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 325
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 653
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. solidare
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d 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. soldar
11. ^ 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. soldar
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 417
13. ^ 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. 1305
14. ^ 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, 139
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 674
16. ^ 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. soldar
17. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1044
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. 985
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. soldar
20. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. soldar
22. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1914), Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano, 6th ed., París: A. & R. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 120
23. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 307