Esdrújulas words, like "music", are those that are stressed on the penultimate syllable.
In order to know the meaning of the term esdrújula , it is necessary, first of all, to know its etymological origin. In this case, we can establish that it derives from Italian, specifically from "sdrucciola", which means "sliding" and that it derives from the verb "sdrucciolare", which is synonymous with "to slide".
However, there are different theories about the Latin origin of these Italian words. Thus, while some indicate that it comes from the Latin word "disroteolare", which would mean "to fall rolling", there are others who establish that it derives from the Latin word "extrusitare", which is synonymous with "to throw outward with force".
A esdrújula word is one in which the prosodic stress falls on the penultimate syllable .
Characteristics of an esdrújula word
Syllables are linguistic units formed by articulated sounds that are grouped based on the one that has the greatest sonority (usually, a vowel). The prosodic accent , for its part, marks which syllable should be pronounced with greater intensity.
If we focus on esdrújulas words, the stress is always located on the penultimate syllable. Due to what is established by the rules of our language regarding writing, this accent is also orthographic : it is indicated with an accent .
"Hippopotamus" is a slang word.
Some examples
The word "esdrújula" itself is esdrújula: it is separated into four syllables ( es-drú-ju-la ) and is accented on the penultimate syllable ( dru ), which is why it has an accent. "Syllable" is also a esdrújula word: in this case, three syllables ( sí-la-ba ).
"Music" (music), "parable" (parable), "hippo" (hippo), "cell" (cell) y "phone" (phone) son otros concepts esdrújulos que, por todo lo mencionado, siempre se escriben con acento ortográfico.
Differences between esdrújulas, serious and acute words
This peculiarity of having an accent in all cases differentiates the esdrújulas words from the serious ones (also called paroxytones or plain ones) and from the acute ones (oxytones).
In the case of serious ones, accents should only be included if they end in a consonant letter other than S or N preceded by a vowel or in two or more consecutive consonants. Acute words, on the other hand, have an accent when they end in a vowel or in S or N preceded by a vowel. That is why there are acute words with and without an accent ( "song" , "glacier" ) and the same happens with serious words ( "fragile" , "shelter" ).
As an adjective, the idea of esdrújula, esdrújulo or proparoxytone refers to what is typical of this type of words or their accentuation. In this way we can speak of esdrújulo verse , esdrújula rhyme , etc.
A publishing house and a comic
In addition to all of the above, we cannot ignore that there is a publishing house that goes by the name of Esdrújula Ediciones, which is based in Granada and has a long list of collections in its catalogue. Among those is, for example, the Sístole collection, which is dedicated to essays and narrative, or the Meteoric collection, which is dedicated to youth literature.
Within the cultural field we find a long list of works that use the word that concerns us now in their titles. This would be the case, for example, "The compass esdrújula." This is a comic starring the superhero Súper López, who will find himself immersed in a very complicated case in which someone has opened a breach on Earth that allows access to a parallel universe.