solo

Forms

solo (feminine sola, masculine plural solos, feminine plural solas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sōlus (“alone, only”); Old Spanish solo is recorded in a charter of 1040, and the word has been in general use ever since.^[2][3][4][1] The adverb, “only”, is the same word: Corominas notes it from Berceo (1220–1250), and Wiktionary derives it from the Latin neuter sōlum (“only”) used as an adverb.^[2][3][1] In Old French, Old Italian, Old Occitan and Old Spanish the word was used adverbially without inflection.^[5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese só, Asturian solu, Catalan sol, Occitan sol, French seul and Italian solo.^[5][6][7] Catalan also has the adverb sols “only”.^[5][6]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[8][1] The traditional explanation, from a reflexive *swé with a suffix, meaning “by oneself”, is rejected by de Vaan; he suggests a link with the root of salvus (“safe, whole”) and sollus (“whole”), *solh₂- “whole”, either as a lengthened-grade derivative or as a root noun meaning “the whole, the one”.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

After the charter of 1040, the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the sense “alone, without company”: „Todos eran idos, ellos quatro solos son” “all had gone; the four of them are alone”.^[2][9] It also uses it for “only, no more than”: the Cid leaves „dos peones solos por la puerta guardar” “just two foot soldiers to guard the gate”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The adverbial use “only” is found from Berceo on; with a negation Old Spanish used the short form sol: sol non “not even” in the Libro de Alexandre and Juan Ruiz.^[2] In the classical authors the adjective often carries the meaning of the adverb, as in Guzmán de Alfarache „cada uno grita y trata de sola su locura” “each one shouts and deals with his own madness alone”.^[2] In modern use solo can work almost as a conjunction with an adversative sense (solo que “except that”), and in Navarre it is then pronounced unstressed.^[2][1]

Covarrubias (1611) defined it as “one who is without company” and noted that it is sometimes an adverb, as in tan solo.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave “unique in its kind” as its first sense, as the Academy's dictionary still does.^[11][4] The masculine noun solo now names a dance step done without a partner, a card game like tresillo, and in music a piece or passage played or sung by one person.^[4][12] Derivatives include soledad (1490), whose sense “longing” (second half of the 16th century) parallels Portuguese saudade.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1040 – first record, in a charter.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid: „ellos quatro solos son”.^[2]
• c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca: „sola salló como ladrón” “she left alone like a thief”.^[2][9]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it as an adverb, “only”.^[3][2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “unique, the only one”.^[13]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary renders Latin solum as sola mente.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias notes the adverbial use in tan solo.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary has the phrase de solo a solo “between the two alone”.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. unique, the only one of its kind: Hay un solo camino.^[4][1]
2. Without anything else, taken by itself, as in café solo “black coffee”.^[4][12]
3. Of a person: alone, without company: Vive solo desde hace años.^[4][1]
4. Without anyone to help or comfort one; lonely.^[4][1]

Adverb

1. only, solely, just: Solo quiero dormir.^[4][16][1]

Noun

1. (music) A solo: a piece or passage sung or played by one person.^[4][12]
2. (dance) A step danced without a partner.^[4]
3. (card games) A game like tresillo; in hombre and similar games, a play that takes all the tricks needed without help.^[4]

Word family

• soledad
• solista
• solamente
• soledoso

Related words

• solitario
• soliloquio
• Latin sōlus
• Portuguese só

Usage notes

As an adverb the word is normally written solo; the Academy's dictionary allows the accented spelling sólo where it could be confused with the adjective.^[17][1] The plural feminine appears in the set phrase a solas “alone, by oneself”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 295
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. solo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. solo
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6221
7. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. solu
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. solo
10. ^ 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. 1306
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. solo
12. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. solo
13. ^ 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. solo
14. ^ 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. solo
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 986
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. solo
17. ^ 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. solo2