temor

Forms

temor m (plural temores)^[1] Old Spanish texts also have the spellings themor and timor.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin timor (“fear”).^[3][4][1][5] The same Latin word is Portuguese temor, Catalan temor, Occitan temor, Italian timore and Aromanian temoare.^[6][7][8]

The Latin noun is formed from timeō (“to fear”) with the suffix -or.^[9][1] The Latin verb is of uncertain origin: de Vaan rejects a connection with words meaning “stiff”, and Wiktionary mentions a link with Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”) that is reasonable in meaning but difficult in sound.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (about 1200, in a 13th-century manuscript), in Moses's words to the people: que sea so temor sobre vuestras fazes “that the fear of him may be upon your faces”.^[11][2] Corominas's first record is Berceo.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used both of fear in general and of the fear of God: Herman the German's Psalter has seruit a Dios con temor “serve God with fear”, and the Partidas explain the ashes of Lent as a sign that the sinner should fear God's justice.^[11][13] Autoridades defined it as the passion that makes one flee from what is harmful or dangerous, and also as suspicion and as apprehension of future harm.^[14] Temor de Dios, the reverent fear owed to God, is counted among the gifts of the Holy Spirit.^[15][4]

In the cant of the underworld temor meant “prison”, a sense recorded by Hidalgo in 1609 and kept in the Academy's dictionary.^[16][15][4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – La fazienda de Ultra Mar has so temor.^[11]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has por temor de enemigos “for fear of enemies”.^[11]
• 1236–1246 – Berceo's Signos del juicio final has muy grandes temores; this is the DCECH's first record.^[11][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin metus, timor, formido and pavor.^[17]
• 1532 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[18]
• 1609 – Hidalgo's glossary of thieves' cant gives temor as “prison”.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin timor.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. fear, dread: the feeling that makes one flee from or avoid what seems harmful or dangerous: Nunca mostró temor ante el tribunal.^[4][1]
2. Presumption or suspicion.^[4]
3. apprehension of some future harm.^[4][19]
4. (religion, temor de Dios) The reverent fear owed to God, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.^[4]
5. (cant) A prison (cárcel).^[4][16]

Word family

• atemorizar
• temeroso

Related words

• temer
• temible
• Latin timor
• Portuguese temor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. temor
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 456
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. temor
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. timor
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. timor
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3259
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. temor
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. timor
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 742
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. temor
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 240
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1014
16. ^ a b c Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779)
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 421
18. ^ 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. temor
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. temor