sombra

Forms

sombra f (plural sombras)^[1] Old Spanish wrote sonbra as well as sombra.^[2][3] Solombra was used from early on in Leonese, Judeo-Spanish and Portuguese;^[4][5] Asturian still says solombra.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin umbra (“shade, shadow”) with an added ⟨s-⟩, which only Spanish and Portuguese have.^[4][5][1] Corominas thinks the ⟨s-⟩ most likely came from sol and its derivatives, because sun and shade are constantly paired and opposed (solano and sombrío, solear and sombrear), much as Latin sinister became sinexter after its opposite dexter.^[4][5] The variant solombra, current in Leonese, Judeo-Spanish, Portuguese and Occitan, supports this.^[4][5]

The older explanation, Diez's, which the REW and the Portuguese and French etymologists followed, derives the noun from a verb *sombrar, from Late Latin *subumbrāre “to put in the shade”, formed with sub- (“under”).^[7][4] Corominas objects that the Latin verb is rare and late (two Bible translations, from about 400 and the 8th century) and that the Spanish verb ⟨*sombrar⟩ on which the theory rests is not found.^[4] The DLE nevertheless derives it from sombrar, and Gómez de Silva and Bénaben mention the verb.^[8][9][10] Nascentes took Old Portuguese soombra to point to sub illa umbra “under that shade”, an explanation Wiktionary also mentions.^[11][1]

The form without ⟨s-⟩ survives in the other Romance languages: Catalan ombra, Occitan ombra, French ombre, Italian ombra and Romanian umbră.^[4][12] Spanish kept it only in umbría and umbrío, which are rooted in place names and so must be very old;^[4][5][13] Old Navarrese also had ombra.^[4][5][13] Beside Spanish stands Portuguese sombra.^[4]

The Latin word is usually connected with Lithuanian ùnksna (“shade”); de Vaan explains the Latin ⟨-mbr-⟩ from an older cluster with ⟨-nks-⟩, and finds no convincing root behind it.^[14][15] Wiktionary also mentions a link with Ancient Greek ἀμαυρός (amaurós, “dark”).^[1][14][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy): Jonah made a hut and stayed a la sonbra “in the shade”.^[3][2] The DCECH and the BDELC give Berceo (1220–1250) as the first record, where it means the shade of a grove of olive trees.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the darkness of shade, the shadow cast by a body, and the figurative senses “ignorance” and “mere semblance”.^[16] Covarrubias recorded andar a sombra de tejado “to keep out of sight of the law” and poner a la sombra “to put in jail”; he took sombrero to come from sombra.^[17] Autoridades added “ghost, spectre” and the metaphor “shelter, favour, protection”, and the Academy listed the painter's sense and the germanía sense “the law, the police”.^[18][19]

Mala sombra “bad luck, ill will” has been compared with an Arabic expression as a possible calque.^[4] In Latin America it names an awning over a market stall (Mexico), a guide sheet of lined paper (Honduras, Chile, Central America), and the shade trees planted over coffee (Puerto Rico).^[20][21]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has a la sonbra.^[3]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo, the first record without a later copy.^[3]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the first record for the DCECH and the BDELC.^[4][5]
• c. 1250 – the variant solombra first recorded.^[5]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X uses it for shade and for the shadow cast by a body.^[16]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin umbra and opacitas.^[22]
• 1539 – first record in the Americas, in New Granada.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records poner a uno a la sombra “to put someone in jail”.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology Latin umbra.^[24]

Meanings

Noun

1. darkness, more or less complete lack of light, often in the plural: las sombras del bosque.^[8][1]
2. A shadow: the dark image cast on a surface by an opaque body that blocks the light.^[8][1]
3. shade: a place the sun does not reach.^[1][25]
4. A ghost, the image of an absent or dead person.^[8][1]
5. Ignorance, lack of knowledge.^[8]
6. Shelter, favour, protection.^[8]
7. A semblance or trace of something.^[8][1]
8. A blemish, defect.^[8]
9. eyeshadow (short for sombra de ojos).^[8]
10. (painting) The dark colour that represents the absence of light and gives objects volume.^[8][1]
11. (colloquial) Luck, fortune;^[8] buena sombra “charm, wit”, mala sombra “ill will; bad luck”.^[8]
12. (colloquial) A person who follows another everywhere.^[8]
13. (colloquial) Secrecy, being unknown to the public: trabajar en la sombra.^[8][26]
14. (telecommunications) An area that a transmitter's signals do not reach.^[8]
15. (Honduras) A guide sheet of lined paper.^[8][20]

Word family

• sombrajo
• sombrear
• sombrío
• sombrilla
• sombrero
• ensombrecer
• asombrar

Related words

• sombraje
• umbría
• umbrío
• penumbra
• Latin umbra
• Portuguese sombra

Usage notes

A la sombra or en la sombra also means “in jail” in Mexico, as Covarrubias recorded for Spain.^[27][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sombra
3. ^ 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. sombra
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 298
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sombra
6. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. solombra
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8405
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. sombra
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 654
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. sombra
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sombra
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9046
13. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. umbra
14. ^ 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, p. s.v. umbra
15. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. umbra
16. ^ 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. sombra
17. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1306
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 147
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 812
20. ^ 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. sombra
21. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 746
22. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 418
23. ^ 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. sombra
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 987
25. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sombra
26. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sombra
27. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 982