“Aproximación diacrónica a la locución Decir el sueño y la soltura”

Historical lexicology has benefited from digitalization and the creation of computerized corpus. Tools like CORDE (Corpus diacrónico del español) allow to trace the history of a word or an idiom and to observe its evolution. In this paper we intend to study the process of idiomatization of the expression ‘decir el sueño y la soltura’ in literary texts, which sometimes reflect colloquial speech. This lexical combination was consolidated over the time from a literal meaning, acquiring a metaphorical meaning. The scant semantic stability of the idiom – which was admitting different connotations – finally contributed to its abandonment, after a stage – during the Golden Age – of quite frequent use, with often ironic or negative communicative intentions.