torbellino

Forms

torbellino m (plural torbellinos)^[1] Old Spanish had torbelino and torvelino in the 13th century and torbenino about 1400;^[2][3][4] Alfonso X's Estoria de España writes toruellinno.^[2][3][4] Early records from Mexico have turbillino (1541) and turbellino (1575).^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish torbelino, inherited from Vulgar Latin *turbinīnus, a diminutive of Latin turbō (“whirlwind; spinning top”).^[1][3] Corominas explains the modern form as an alteration of torvelino, which arose by dissimilation from torbenino, recorded about 1400, the diminutive of the Latin noun.^[2][3] The ⟨ll⟩ may be due to the influence of bullir, as García de Diego suggested.^[2] The DLE gives only the Latin noun as the source.^[6]

The same diminutive, with a shift of vowels, is Catalan terbolí.^[2][7] Its Asturian counterpart is torbolín.^[8] Portuguese torvelinho was borrowed from Spanish.^[9] The Latin word itself survived in Mozarabic turbil “vertigo”, in an 11th-century glossary.^[2] French tourbillon is a different diminutive, from torbeil.^[10] In his dictionary García de Diego derives the Spanish word instead from Latin turbellae (“confusion”).^[11]

In popular speech the Latin noun was also declined Late Latin turbo, -ōnis (“storm”), the source of Old Spanish turbón “sudden storm” and of Portuguese trovão “thunder”.^[2][12][13] The noun itself is derived from turba (“commotion, crowd”).^[1][14][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy): alboroz en dia de lid e de tenpestar en dia de torbellino “tumult on the day of battle and storm on the day of the whirlwind”.^[16] Herman the German's Psalter (c. 1240–1272) uses it the same way, of the wind of the tempest and the whirlwind.^[16] The sense was a whirling wind, as in the Estoria de España.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija rendered it with Latin turbo, a very violent one with ecnephias, and a cloud with a whirlwind with typho.^[17] Autoridades (1739) described the wind as raising everything it meets into the air in circles, and added two figurative senses: a crowd of things happening at once, and a person too lively and restless who does and says things without order.^[18] These senses have stayed in the Academy's dictionary since.^[19][6]

In Colombia torbellino is a popular dance like the bambuco and the music that goes with it; in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, it was a dance of several couples.^[20][21] In medicine it is used for a vórtice.^[22]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century copy).^[16]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán tells of a great dust and un fiero torbellino in an 18th-century copy.^[16]
• c. 1240–1272 – Herman the German's Psalter, the first record in a text known from a copy of its own time.^[16]
• 1270–1284 – toruellinno in Alfonso X's Estoria de España.^[4]
• 13th century – torvelino in the Gran conquista de Ultramar and un viento de torbelyno in the Purgatorio de San Patricio.^[2]
• c. 1400 – torbenino in the Escorial glossary, translating Latin turbo.^[2][3]
• early 15th century – torbellino in Juan Alfonso de Baena's Cancionero, the date Corominas gives for the modern form.^[2][3]
• 1541 – first record in Mexico, as turbillino.^[5]
• 1739 – Autoridades gives the literal sense and the two figurative ones.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's first etymology: Latin turbo, turbinis.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A whirlwind: a wind that turns in circles (remolino): Un torbellino arrastró las hojas secas por todo el patio.^[6][1]
2. (figurative) A rush of many things happening at the same time: Aquel mes fue un torbellino de viajes y reuniones.^[6][1][23]
3. (colloquial) A very lively, restless person who acts or speaks hastily and without order: El pequeño no se está quieto ni un minuto: es un auténtico torbellino.^[6][23]
4. (Colombia) A popular dance like the bambuco, and its music.^[20]
5. (medicine) A vortex.^[22]

Related words

• tolvanera
• turbar
• turbina
• turbión
• turbonada
• turbio
• Latin turbō
• Catalan terbolí

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 5, 699
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. turbar
4. ^ a b c d 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. torbellino
5. ^ a b 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. torbelino
6. ^ a b c d e 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. torbellino
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. terbolí
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. torbolín
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3415
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. tourbillon
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6916
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3401
14. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ 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, p. s.v. torbellino
17. ^ 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. torbellino
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 299
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1034
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. torbellino
21. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 785
22. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. torbellino
23. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. torbellino