soltero

Forms

soltero (feminine soltera, masculine plural solteros, feminine plural solteras)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas derives it from Spanish suelto + -ero, on the stem ⟨solt-⟩ that also gives soltar, so that the word first meant “loose, free” and only later “unmarried”.^[2][3] That adjective was at first only the participle of the old verb solver (“to loosen”), from Latin solvō (“to loosen, release”).^[2][3] Gómez de Silva and Vox also place it in the family of the verb “to loosen”, and Bénaben reports Corominas's view.^[4][5][6]

The DLE, Moliner and Wiktionary instead trace it to sōlitārius (“solitary, isolated”), which García de Diego also gives, with solitario as its learned doublet.^[7][8][1][9] Corominas, following Spitzer, rejects this older etymology, which Menéndez Pidal's Manual had given, as unnecessary and unlikely in both meaning and sound: the Latin word would rather have given ⟨*soldero⟩.^[2] Wiktionary, for its part, calls the derivation from “loose” the less likely theory.^[1]

The sense “unmarried” already existed in Medieval Latin solutus, the word used in the Latin original of the Fueros de Aragón, and Old Spanish suelto could also mean it.^[2] The same formation is Catalan solter, Portuguese solteiro and Asturian solteru, and the Galician-Portuguese Cantigas have Old Galician-Portuguese solteira “unmarried woman”.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Libro de Alexandre (c. 1230–1250) uses the word for “loose”, in a rienda soltera “at a loose rein”.^[2][11] In Alfonso X's General Estoria (1272–1275) the jailer lets Joseph walk soltero “free” about the prison once he has taken him out of his chain.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

The Breve diccionario dates the sense “loose”, said of reins and prisoners, to the middle of the 13th century, and the sense “unmarried” to after it.^[3] The newer sense is already in Berceo and in a document from Sahagún of 1262, and Alfonso X's laws speak of sin with a mugier soltera “unmarried woman”.^[2][12] Nebrija rendered soltero o soltera with Latin caelebs, and Percyvall in 1591 glossed it “single man”.^[13][14]

Autoridades (1739) defined it as a person who has not yet taken a state in life, and explained it from suelto, since such a person is not bound by marriage; it kept the sense “loose, free” as a second one.^[15] Salvá (1846) recorded the old phrase a rienda soltera “at full gallop”.^[16] The DLE still lists “loose or free”, now as rare.^[7]

Regional uses include a dish in Peru and Bolivia, a salad of rocoto pepper, onion, cheese, tomato, broad beans and olives, also called solterito.^[17] In Andalusia a soltero was a farm worker given land free of charge on condition that he planted and raised an olive grove or a vineyard on it.^[18] In Oaxaca the name is given to a climbing plant, Petrea arborea.^[19]

Timeline

• 1230–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has a rienda soltera “at a loose rein”.^[2][11]
• 1262 – a document from Sahagún uses it for “unmarried”.^[2]
• 1272–1275 – the General Estoria still uses it for “free, at large”.^[12]
• 1513 – Nebrija's Vocabulario gives Latin caelebs for soltero o soltera.^[13]
• 1547 – the first record from the Americas, in a document from Mexico.^[20]
• 1739 – Autoridades explains the word from suelto.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from soltar.^[21]
• 1917 – Alemany gives Latin solitarius as its source, as the DLE does today.^[22][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. single, unmarried: not married: Mi tío sigue soltero a los cincuenta años.^[7][8][1]
2. (rare) loose or free.^[7]

Noun

1. A single person; a bachelor or an unmarried woman.^[7][1]
2. (Peru, Bolivia) A salad of rocoto pepper, onion, cheese, tomato, broad beans and olives.^[17]
3. (Andalusia, agriculture) A farm worker given land free of charge on condition that he plants an olive grove or vineyard on it.^[18]

Word family

• solterón
• soltería

Related words

• solterona
• suelto
• solitario
• Portuguese solteiro

Usage notes

Despedida de soltero is a party held for someone about to marry.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 23
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. absolver
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. soltero
5. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. soltero
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. soltero
7. ^ 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. soltero
8. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. soltero
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. solitarius
10. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. solteru
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. soltero
12. ^ 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. soltero
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 418
14. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 216
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
16. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1010
17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. soltero
18. ^ a b Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 582
19. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 982
20. ^ 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. soltero
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 925
22. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1530