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triste

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word triste

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1200 Almerich, La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin tristis via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin trīstis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin trīstis
Spanish triste
French triste
Italian triste
From the same root
Latin contrīstō ← trīstis
Latin trīstitia ← trīstis

Pronunciation

  • /ˈtɾiste/, [ˈt̪ɾis.t̪e][1]

Forms

triste m or f (masculine and feminine plural tristes, superlative tristísimo)[1] Berceo has the variant tristo, confirmed by the rhyme.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish triste, inherited from Latin trīstis (“sad, gloomy”).[2][3][4] Corominas notes that the word is common to all the Romance languages, though in some it may be semi-learned, as French triste is.[2] Wiktionary instead treats the Spanish form as a borrowing from Latin.[1]

Berceo's variant tristo continues a popular type Vulgar Latin *trīstus, which also gave Catalan trist, Italian tristo, Sardinian tristu and Romanian trist.[2][5][1] In French the inherited Old French trist was remade after Latin as the modern form.[6]

The origin of the Latin adjective is unknown.[7][8] De Vaan rejects a comparison with Germanic words for “bold”, such as Old High German drīsti, and finds no good alternative.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in Almerich's La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy): Joseph finds the dreaming prisoners tristes in the morning.[9][10] The Razón de amor, of the first half of the 13th century, opens Qui triste tiene su coraçon / benga oyr esta razon “let whoever has a sad heart come and hear this tale”.[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X uses it for a sorrowful person, for a face showing grief and for a pensive, solitary monk.[11] Covarrubias adds that triste may mean a miser or a wretched or poor man.[12] Autoridades gave “afflicted” and “fatal, unfortunate”, and the Academy later added the sense “mean, paltry”, together with dark, gloomy places and sad faces and animals.[13][14]

Before a noun the adjective means “mere, paltry”: un triste pedazo de pan.[4][15] In South America el triste became the name of a sad love song sung to the guitar;[16] Salvá recorded it in 1846 as a tune of the Indians of Peru and Bolivia.[16][4][17]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – first record, in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy).[9]
  • 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it, with the variant tristo.[3][2]
  • 1251 – the verb entristecer appears in the Calila.[2][3]
  • c. 1250 – the noun tristeza is first recorded.[3]
  • 1335 – tristura “sadness” in Juan Ruiz.[3][2]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin tristis and maestus.[18]
  • 1549 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.[19]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias notes the senses “miserly” and “poor”.[12]
  • 1846 – Salvá records triste as a tune of the Indians of Peru and Bolivia.[16]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin tristis.[20]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. sad, afflicted, dejected: Hoy la noto triste.[4][1]
  2. Of a melancholy character.[4][15]
  3. Showing or causing sorrow or melancholy: unos ojos tristes, una carta triste.[4]
  4. Spent or done in sorrow: una tarde triste.[4]
  5. Fatal, deplorable; painful, hard to bear.[4]
  6. (before a noun) Mere, insignificant, insufficient: ni un triste euro.[4][15]
  7. Dark, gloomy (of a room or place); (colloquial) withered (of flowers).[15]

Noun

  1. (Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay) A popular sad love song accompanied on the guitar.[4][17]

Word family

  • tristeza
  • tristura
  • entristecer
  • contristar
  • tristemente
  • tristón

Usage notes

Estar triste describes a passing state and ser triste a character.[1] Malaret records a separate triste in Central America and Mexico, a drink of maize flour, cocoa and sugar, which he derives from Nahuatl.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 643
  3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. triste
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. triste
  5. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 8, 847
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. triste
  9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. triste
  10. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. triste
  11. ^ 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. triste
  12. ^ 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. 1351
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 360
  14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 864
  15. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. triste
  16. ^ a b c Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1078
  17. ^ 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. triste
  18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 425
  19. ^ 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. triste
  20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1053
  21. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 780

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Triste.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/triste. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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