vinagre

Forms

vinagre m (plural vinagres)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish vinagre, borrowed from Catalan vinagre, literally “sour wine”.^[2][3][1][4] The DLE analyses the Catalan word as Old Catalan vin (“wine”) and agre (“sour”), which go back to Latin vīnum (“wine”) and ācre (“sharp, sour”).^[3][1] Corominas explains the borrowing by the large production of vinegar on the lower Ebro, and holds that it soon displaced the native word acedo; the ⟨-e⟩ and the ⟨-n-⟩ of the Portuguese word show that it too is a Catalanism.^[2] Bénaben notes that the native word came from acētum (“vinegar”).^[5] According to Menéndez Pidal, quoted by Corominas, the word was already coming into use between 1067 and 1140.^[2] Prat Sabater counts it among the Catalan loans of Spanish.^[6]

Other dictionaries derive it directly from the two Latin words: García de Diego, Moliner and the DRAE of 2001.^[7][8][9] The Diccionario de Autoridades and the Academy's edition of 1884 treated it as a Spanish compound of vino and agrio.^[10][11]

Compounds of the same kind are Portuguese vinagre, Galician vinagre, Occitan vinagre, French vinaigre and Italian vinagro.^[7][12]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *wīno- and Proto-Indo-European *uih₁-on- (“vine; wine”), perhaps “the weaving one”, from a root meaning “to weave, wrap”.^[13] The adjective is from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-ro- (“sharp”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Semejanza del mundo of about 1223, a description of the world: a powder mixed a abueltas de vinagre “together with vinegar” is rubbed on wounds.^[14][15] Berceo, about 1236–1246, has the gall mixed with vinegar given to Christ on the cross: fiel buelta con vinagre.^[14][16]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the word for the condiment and the medicine;^[17] Alfonso X's Lapidario has vinagre fuert and vinegars of wine and of cider.^[17] Nebrija and Covarrubias define it as spoilt wine.^[18][19] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds the acid of unripe fruit, a thing that turns from good to bad, and, as a nickname, a person of harsh, sour temper.^[10] Terreros records chemical terms such as vinagre radicado and vinagre filosófico.^[20] Salvá in 1846 notes that the word is also feminine in familiar speech, and Corominas found the feminine in the village of Cespedosa.^[21][2]

The DLE now gives the liquid and, colloquially, a sour-tempered person of either gender, with the phrases vinagre balsámico and vinagre de yema, the best vinegar from the middle of the vat.^[3] In the Canaries un vinagre is a heavy drinker, and in Puerto Rico a fermented hot sauce of peppers, garlic and onion.^[22][23] Judeo-Spanish proverbs use it often, as vinagre de baldes es dulse “vinegar you get for free is sweet”.^[24]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – first record, in the Semejanza del mundo.^[14][15]
• c. 1236–1246 – Berceo's Duelo de la Virgen (known from an 18th-century copy).^[14]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario distinguishes vinegar of wine and of cider.^[17]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin acetum.^[18][25]
• 1517 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[26]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as spoilt wine.^[19]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the figurative sense of a sour-tempered person.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from vino and agrio.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. vinegar: a sour liquid made by the acid fermentation of wine, mostly acetic acid and water, used chiefly as a condiment.^[3][1]
2. (colloquial) A person of sour, disagreeable temper: Su tío es un vinagre.^[3][8]
3. (Canary Islands) A heavy drinker.^[22]
4. (Puerto Rico) A hot sauce of peppers, garlic and onion fermented in water with salt and sugar.^[23]

Word family

• vinagrera
• vinagrero
• vinagrillo
• vinagroso
• avinagrar
• envinagrar

Related words

• vino
• agrio
• acedo
• vinagreta
• Catalan vinagre
• French vinaigre

Usage notes

Vinagre is masculine in the standard language; the colloquial sense of a person is masculine or feminine.^[3] The phrase cara de vinagre “sour face” is recorded from the 19th century.^[27][28]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 822
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. vinagre
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
6. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 392
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
8. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vinagre
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. vinagre
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 489
11. ^ 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. 1090
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9356
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. vinagre
15. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
16. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra
17. ^ a b c 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)
18. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 431
19. ^ 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. 1391
20. ^ 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, 802
21. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá
22. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org
23. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr
24. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC
25. ^ 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
26. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
27. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez
28. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena