untura

Forms

untura f (plural unturas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin unctūra (“anointing; ointment”).^[2][1][3][4] DICCA-XV instead takes it as a Spanish derivative of the verb.^[5] The Latin noun is formed from ungō (“to anoint”) with the suffix -ūra; in classical Latin it meant the anointing of the dead, and in Medieval Latin an ointment.^[6][7][8]

The same Latin word is Romanian untură, Sardinian untura, Old French ointure, Old Occitan onchura, Catalan untura and Portuguese untura.^[9][10] Henríquez Ureña notes that ordinary speakers connect untar, unto and this word with one another but not with the learned ungüento, ungir and unción.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Moamín (1250, in a copy of the later 13th century), a treatise on hunting birds, where untura is the medicine smeared on the meat given to falcons.^[12] In Alfonso X's Lapidario a white stone used for royal vessels turns black wherever any untura touches it: the substance one smears on something.^[13][12]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word was used for medicinal and cosmetic salves and, in the Setenario, for the holy chrism: Crisma es vntura santa.^[12][14] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives two senses, the act of anointing and the matter one anoints with, quoting ungüentos y unturas from a sequel of the Celestina.^[15] Terreros adds the paint women put on their faces.^[16] From 1884 the Academy defined it simply as untadura; the DLE now gives the act of smearing and the substance smeared.^[17][2]

Regional senses include an ointment in Puerto Rico, a rubbing in the Dominican Republic, a bribe in Honduras, and fat used to season food in León.^[18][19][20]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín uses untura for a medicine given to falcons.^[12][21]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for any substance smeared on a stone.^[13]
• 1252–1270 – the Setenario calls the chrism vntura santa.^[14][12]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia's dictionary, the first record Corominas gives.^[3][4]
• 1578 – the first record from the Americas, in Venezuela, of the poison on sharpened stakes.^[22]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records both the act and the substance.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives its Latin etymon.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of smearing or anointing something or oneself.^[2][1]
2. The substance one smears with: an ointment, a spread: Le puso una untura en la rodilla.^[2][1]
3. (Dominican Republic) A rubbing, friction.^[19]
4. (Honduras) Money paid as a bribe.^[19]

Related words

• untar
• unto
• ungüento
• unción
• Latin unctūra

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. untura
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 715
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. untar
5. ^ 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. untura
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. untura
11. ^ Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (2015), Obras completas, vol. 12: 1936–1940 III, ed. Miguel D. Mena, Santo Domingo: Ministerio de Cultura, p. 38
12. ^ 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. untura
13. ^ a b 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. untura
14. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. untura
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 395
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 740
17. ^ 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. 1063
18. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. untura
19. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. untura
20. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. untura
21. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
22. ^ 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. untura