trueno

Forms

trueno m (plural truenos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin tronus (“thunder”), a noun formed from the verb *tronare, the source of tronar.^[2][3][4] The Academy, García de Diego and Gómez de Silva derive it from the Spanish verb itself.^[5][6][7] Corominas notes that the Latin noun is already found in the Tironian notes of the early Middle Ages.^[2]

The verb is tonāre (“to thunder”) with an added ⟨r⟩.^[2] Corominas explains it from tonitrus (“thunder”), which became *tronitus by metathesis (the source of Old Spanish tronido); the ⟨r⟩ spread from there to the verb and held because ⟨tr-⟩ sounds more like thunder.^[2] He rejects Diez's idea of a purely imitative ⟨r⟩ and Schuchardt's of a crossing with tremere (“to tremble”).^[2] The DHLE calls the etymology doubtful and also considers tonus (“tone; thunderclap”), which could mean the sound of thunder, with its meaning and form influenced by the verb and by the other Latin noun for thunder.^[8] Wiktionary likewise starts from the noun for “tone”, through a Vulgar Latin form with ⟨r⟩.^[1]

The same formation is Catalan tro, already in Llull, Galician trono, Portuguese trom, Occitan tron, Italian trono (“thunder (old)”) and Sicilian tronu.^[2][1] Old Spanish usually used the noun in ⟨-ido⟩ named above, and the oldest form, in the Libro de Alexandre, is tonidro.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DHLE's first record is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar of Almerich (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where God sends down on the cities of the plain fuego del cielo e truenos e relanpagos “fire from heaven and thunder and lightning”.^[8][9] The sense is the noise of thunder.^[8] Corominas had dated the word only to the 14th century, already with the sense of the report of a gun.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Biblical translations of the 13th century used trueno for the voice of God and for the seven thunders of the Apocalypse, often in the form tueno.^[8] From the Poema de Alfonso Onceno (before 1348) the word also named a gun or small piece of artillery, and then its shot; the sense “report of a firearm” is recorded from 1554, in López de Gómara.^[8][2] From trueno in that sense came tronera, a gunport.^[2][10]

The Academy recorded in 1803 an old piece of artillery called trueno, and in 1970 a hair net worn by the majos of 18th-century Madrid, a sense first found in Ramón de la Cruz in 1769.^[8] From the 1840s the word also described a wild, rowdy young man, and a noisy party; in Andalusia trueno gordo is a catastrophe or sensational news.^[8] In Colombia and Venezuela it is a firecracker.^[8] In Panama and Ecuador it is slang for a pistol.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – first record, in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy.^[8][9]
• 1254 – an astrological work of Alfonso X has relampagos & truenos.^[12]
• a. 1260 – a New Testament translation uses trueno for the voice of God.^[8]
• a. 1348 – the Poema de Alfonso Onceno uses it for a piece of artillery.^[8]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija lists tronido o trueno with Latin tonitrus.^[3][2]
• 1554 – López de Gómara uses it for the report of a gun.^[8]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains it as “quasi tonus”.^[13]
• 1769 – Ramón de la Cruz uses it for a hair net.^[8]
• 1879 – first record in Mexico as the name of a tree.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. thunder; a thunderclap: the loud noise produced in the clouds by a discharge of lightning.^[5][1]
2. The report or bang of a firearm or of fireworks.^[5][14]
3. (colloquial) A reckless, rowdy young man of bad conduct.^[5][14]
4. (historical) A hair net worn by the majos of the 18th century.^[5][8]
5. (obsolete) A piece of artillery (artillería).^[5]
6. (Colombia, Venezuela) A loud firecracker.^[8]
7. (Panama, Ecuador, slang) A pistol.^[11]

Word family

• tronera
• trueno gordo

Related words

• atronar
• tronar
• tronido
• detonar
• Catalan tro

Usage notes

Trueno gordo is the loudest bang that ends a fireworks display, and dar el trueno gordo means to cause a scandal.^[5] In Mexico trueno is also the name of trees of the olive family, recorded from 1879 and first in Santamaría's dictionary of americanisms in 1942;^[8] Wiktionary lists this “privet” sense as rare, under a separate origin, comparing Catalan troana and French troène.^[1]

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, 659
3. ^ 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. trueno
4. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. tro
5. ^ 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. trueno
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 6737
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 701
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. trueno
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. trueno
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tronar
11. ^ 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. trueno
12. ^ 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. trueno
13. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1353
14. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trueno