lindo.

From Old Spanish lindo, of uncertain origin, but probably from Latin legitimus (“lawful, proper”) through metathesis and assimilation: *lid(i)mo > *limdo > lindo. If so, a doublet of the learned borrowing legítimo. Corominas considers both lindo and its possible Portuguese cognate lídimo (“legitimate”) as semi-learned terms, but this is uncertain. Compare English legible. Some sources derive it from Latin limpidus (“clean”) instead, but this is less likely for both phonetic and semantic reasons. Old Spanish lindo originally meant “legitimate”, later “authentic, pure, good”, and eventually gave rise to the modern meaning. Moreover, Latin limpidus is already the source of Spanish limpio.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.