sonrisa

Forms

sonrisa f (plural sonrisas)^[1]

Etymology

The DLE derives it from Spanish sonrisar (“to smile”), an old verb that it forms from son- and risa.^[2][3] Alemany gave the same source.^[4] Corominas lists the noun among the derivatives of sonreír, which continues Latin subrīdeō (“to smile”); he finds the old verb in the Cid and a few other epic texts only, and explains it from the epic narrative style.^[5][6]

Gómez de Silva derives the noun from the modern verb, on the model of the pair “to laugh” and “laughter”.^[7] Wiktionary instead makes it inherited from subrīsa, the feminine of subrīsus, the past participle of the Latin verb.^[1] It replaced the older masculine sonriso, which Corominas derives from the Latin noun of the same form, and which has counterparts in Italian sorriso and Catalan somrís.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Franciosini's dictionary of 1620;^[8] Quevedo writes En príncipes soberanos temería yo la sonrisa “in sovereign princes I would fear the smile”.^[5] The CDH's first reliable hit is in Paravicino's funeral oration of 1633.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1739) defined it as the act of smiling and noted that some said sonriso; the Breve diccionario dates sonrisa from this dictionary.^[9][6] Sonriso, used in the 16th and 17th centuries, lasted in writers into the 19th and early 20th: the Duque de Rivas (1854) and Galdós (1908) have sorriso.^[5] Terreros defined it as a moderate, modest laugh.^[10]

Moliner records phrases such as sonrisa amarga “bitter smile” and the ironic con la mejor de sus sonrisas “with his sweetest smile”.^[11] In Honduras a sonrisa de burro is a smile that shows the teeth, a disparaging term.^[12]

Timeline

• 1620 – Franciosini's dictionary, Corominas's first record.^[5]
• early 17th century – Quevedo uses sonrisa.^[5]
• 1633 – Paravicino's funeral oration.^[8]
• 1739 – Autoridades defines it and notes the variant sonriso.^[9]
• 1785–1786 – Francisco de Miranda uses it in his travel diary.^[8]
• 1908 – Galdós still writes sorriso.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A smile: the act or result of smiling: Me saludó con una sonrisa tímida.^[2][11][1]

Related words

• sonreír
• risa
• sonriso
• sonriente
• Italian sorriso

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. sonrisa
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. sonrisa
4. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1532
5. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 857
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. reír
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. sonrisa
8. ^ 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. sonrisa
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 152
10. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 527
11. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sonrisa
12. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. sonrisa