tormento

Forms

tormento m (plural tormentos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin tormentum (“twisted rope; war engine; torture”), a semi-learned word.^[2][3][1][4] An inherited form would have had the diphthong /je/, which the old verb tormientar, a variant of atormentar, shows.^[1][2] The Latin noun is formed from torqueō (“to twist”) with the suffix -mentum, originally with the /k/ of the verb before the suffix.^[5][2][6] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the verb, which goes back, according to Wiktionary, to Proto-Indo-European *terkʷ- (“to turn”).^[7][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese tormento, Catalan turment, French tourment and Italian tormento.^{[8][9][10][1]} Its neuter plural, taken as a feminine singular, gave tormenta “storm”, which in the Middle Ages also meant “misfortune”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Berceo; the CDH's earliest hit for the noun is Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy), where the saint says he chose vevir en tormento “to live in torment” and die in penance.^[2][11][12] An earlier CDH hit, ningunt tormento in the Castilian text of the Cortes de León dated 1208, is unclear in sense.^[11] The legal sense, torture of a suspect, is in the Fuero Juzgo of about 1250–1260, with a title “of evildoers and their tormentos”, and in the Partidas.^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

The Partidas and the laws of Alfonso X used the word both for torture applied by a judge and for suffering in general.^[13][11] Nebrija, in 1492, gave it as the Spanish for Latin cruciatus and tormentum and also for a siege engine for throwing missiles.^[14] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as the judicial torment given to someone against whom there is half-proof, and explained the name by the Latin gerund torquendo “by twisting”.^[15] Autoridades (1739) adds that the usual kind was by cords and turns, and gives the figurative sense of anguish of the mind and the person or thing that causes it.^[16] In 1817 the Academy listed the war engine or cannon and the tormento de garrucha, in which the accused hung from a rope over a pulley.^[17] From 1843 it described judicial torture in the past tense, as a punishment that se imponía “used to be imposed”.^[18] In colloquial speech tormento is also an affectionate way of addressing someone dear.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1236 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (in a late 13th-century copy).^[11][2]
• c. 1250–1260 – the Fuero Juzgo has a title on evildoers and their tormentos.^[11]
• 1492 – Nebrija gives Latin cruciatus and tormentum, and tormento de cuerda.^[14]
• 1515 – first record in the Americas, in Tierra Firme: le puse a cuestión de tormento “I put him to the question of torture”.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines judicial torment.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy records tormento de garrucha and the sense “cannon”.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin tormentum.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or effect of tormenting; torment.^[3][1]
2. Severe physical pain or anguish (angustia).^[3][22]
3. Mental distress, affliction: Vivía en un tormento esperando noticias del barco.^[3][19]
4. A person or thing that causes pain or distress: Estas botas nuevas son un tormento.^[3][22]
5. (historical) A war engine for throwing balls or other missiles.^[3][22]
6. (historical) torture: bodily pain inflicted on an accused person to force a confession or statement.^[3][22]
7. (colloquial) A term of endearment for a loved person: ¡Ven aquí, tormento mío!^[19]

Related words

• tormenta
• atormentar
• torcer
• tortura
• Latin tormentum

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 553
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. tormento
4. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 783
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. tormentum
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. tormento
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3325
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. turment
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. tourment
11. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. tormento
12. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. tormento
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. tormento
14. ^ a b 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. tormento
15. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1336
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 302
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 850
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 707
19. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. tormento
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. tormento
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1035
22. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tormento