turbio

Forms

turbio (feminine turbia, masculine plural turbios, feminine plural turbias)^[1] Old Spanish texts often write turvio or turuio, feminine turvia;^[2][3][4] Nebrija has turvio.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin turbidus (“wild, disordered, murky”).^[4][5][6][1] It is the popular outcome, beside the learned doublet túrbido.^[1][7] Corominas notes that the related verb turbar is a learned word, and that its Old Spanish variants turbiar and turvar show the influence of the inherited form turvio.^[4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese turvo, Italian torbido and Catalan tèrbol.^[8][9][10] The Catalan form is irregular, since the regular outcome would have ended in -eu.^[10]

The Latin adjective is formed from turba (“commotion, disorder”) with the suffix -idus.^[11][1] De Vaan finds the usual connection of that noun with a Sanskrit verb meaning “to hurry” very uncertain, and notes that it is most like Ancient Greek τύρβη (túrbē, “noise, confusion”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to Berceo, in the first half of the 13th century.^[4][5] In Alfonso X's Lapidario a stone that sight cannot pass through is de color de greda turuia “the colour of murky clay”, the literal sense of something not clear.^[3] A treatise on the stars from Alfonso's court already uses it of the mind: de turuio espirito “of troubled spirit”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija treated turvio as equal to turbado “troubled”.^[4] Covarrubias (1611) defined it as what is not clear, like muddy water.^[13] Autoridades (1739) gave the literal sense and two figurative ones: unfortunate or adverse, quoting Fray Luis de León on el tiempo próspero, y en el turbio “good times and bad”, and obscure or confused in speech.^[14] The 1817 edition of the Academy's dictionary added the phrase a turbio correr or cuando todo turbio corra “however badly things go”, and the 1869 edition the plural noun turbios, the dregs of wine and oil.^[15][16] The modern dictionary adds a sense of dishonest or doubtful dealings.^[6][17]

In Honduras and El Salvador a turbio person is ill-intentioned or hard to deal with.^[18][1] In Venezuela the noun once named the clouding of the sea for several days.^[19]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[4][5]
• 1250–1279 – turuia in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[3]
• 1254 – turuio espirito in an astrological treatise of Alfonso X's court.^[3]
• mid-13th century – the derived verb enturbiar.^[5]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija equates turvio with turbado.^[4]
• 1568 – first record in the Americas, of water muddied with blood in Guatemala.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias: what is not clear, like muddy water.^[13]
• 1739 – Autoridades adds the senses “unfortunate” and “obscure in speech”.^[14]
• 1869 – the plural turbios “dregs” enters the Academy's dictionary.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cloudy, murky: mixed with something that takes away its natural clearness: Tras las lluvias, el agua del pozo salía turbia.^[6][1]
2. Of times or circumstances, troubled, uncertain or hazardous.^[6]
3. Of sight or language, confused, unclear.^[6][21]
4. Dishonest or of doubtful legality, shady: Hizo su fortuna con tratos turbios que nadie investigó.^[6][1]
5. (Honduras, El Salvador, colloquial) Of a person, ill-intentioned.^[18][1]

Noun

1. (in the plural) The dregs of a liquid, especially oil or wine.^[6]

Word family

• enturbiar
• turbiamente
• turbiedad

Related words

• turbar
• túrbido
• torbellino
• Latin turbidus
• Portuguese turvo

Usage notes

Ver turbio is to see blurred, with turbio used as an adverb.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. turbio
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. turbio
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 699
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. turbar
6. ^ 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. turbio
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6918
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3415
10. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. tèrbol
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ 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. 1357
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 378
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 869
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 771
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. turbio
18. ^ 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. turbio
19. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 800
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. turbio
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. turbio