Some thoughts on a Dios as a farewell formula in Spanish Golden Age Theatre

Abstract

This study offers an analysis of Spanish farewell expression a Dios/adiós in the Golden Age period, using Calderón de la Barca’s first six partes of Comedias (written between 1623 and 1680) as a representative corpus. Three main issues were considered, namely the context, the pragmatic function, and the presence of this marker in adjacency pairs. The data analysis of the corpus enables the identification of typical features of grammaticalization in the development of adiós, which would originate in longer farewell formulae like Quédate a Dios.