viruela

Forms

viruela f (plural viruelas)^[1] Old Spanish had veruela (also written ueruela) and uerola;^[2][3][4] viruela is the usual form from the 16th century.^[2][3][4] Asturias and Murcia have virguela.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish veruela, inherited from Late Latin variola (“pustule; smallpox”), a word attested in the Latin glosses.^{[2][3][1][6][7]} The sources disagree on its base.^[3][6] Corominas and Wiktionary take it from Latin varius (“variegated, spotted”), because of the mottled skin of the sick.^[3][1][2] The DLE, Moliner and Bénaben make it a diminutive of varus (“pimple, spot on the face”), Bénaben adding that the ⟨i⟩ probably comes from the influence of the adjective.^[6][8][9]

The same Latin word is Italian vaiolo, Catalan verola and French vérole;^[10][2] Galician-Portuguese uses Portuguese bexiga instead, and Romanian also lost the word.^[10][2] varíola is a learned form, as its stress shows.^[11]

De Vaan finds no convincing etymology for the adjective.^[12] For the noun he reconstructs Proto-Italic *waro- and suggests a link with words for “pimple”, “wart” and “lip” in other European languages.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Moamín, Abraham of Toledo's translation of a treatise on hunting birds (1250, in a copy of the late 13th century), which lists ueruelas with swellings, pustules, warts and boils: here each pustule.^[14][4] An astrological text of Alfonso X dated 1259 names uerolas as a disease.^[4]

Semantic evolution

A Sevillian medical book of the turn of the 15th century records that in 1393 corrieron viruelas, with measles and fevers.^[14] Alfonso de Palencia (1490) still wrote veruela and veruliento; the form with ⟨i⟩ is in Cristóbal de las Casas (1570), and later in Luis de Granada and Cervantes.^[2][3][15] In the Americas the word appears in 1519, in Santo Domingo, for the epidemic that killed many of the native people.^[16]

Autoridades (1739) explained it as the poisonous pustule that leaves a deep mark, usually in the plural, adding that sheep suffer it too.^[17] It traced the word to Latin “poison”.^[17] The Academy's 1817 dictionary says it can be prevented by inoculation, and that of 1843 by vaccination.^[18][19] Viruelas locas, a mild form with few pustules, is in Salvá's dictionary of 1846.^[20] In the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico viruela is chickenpox, and in parts of Central America and Uruguay a disease of poultry.^[21][22][23]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Moamín has ueruelas.^[14][4]
• 1259 – uerolas as a disease, in an astrological text of Alfonso X.^[4]
• 1344 – the Crónica de 1344 has the form vriuela, the first record without a later copy.^[14]
• c. 1400 – a glossary of the Escorial has veruela.^[2]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia writes veruela and veruliento.^[2][3]
• 1519 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[16]
• 1570 – viruelas in Cristóbal de las Casas's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1739 – Autoridades derives it from the Latin word for “poison”.^[17]
• 1843 – the Academy mentions vaccination against it.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Late Latin variola.^[24]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pathology, often in the plural) smallpox: an acute, contagious disease with fever and a rash of many pustules.^[6][1][25]
2. A pustule caused by smallpox: Tenía la frente marcada por las viruelas.^[6][1]
3. A small raised spot on the surface of something, such as a plant or paper.^[6][8]
4. (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) chickenpox.^[21][22][23]
5. (Central America, Panama, Uruguay) fowlpox, a viral disease of birds.^[21]

Word family

• virolento

Related words

• vario
• varioloso
• Late Latin variola
• French vérole

Usage notes

The proverb a la vejez, viruelas is said of something that comes too late in life.^[8][1] Viruela loca is a mild form of the disease, in some places chickenpox.^[8][25] The adjectives of the disease are learned: varioloso and variólico.^[2][26]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 747
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vario
4. ^ 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. viruela
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
6. ^ 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. viruela
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 728
8. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. viruela
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. viruela
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9156
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. varíola
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. varius
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. varus
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. viruela
15. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1161
16. ^ a b 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. virbela
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 497
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 895
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 747
20. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1118
21. ^ 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. viruela
22. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. viruela
23. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. viruela
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1093
25. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. viruela
26. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. viruela