DULCINEA

PRONUNCIATION: (duhl-SIN-ee-uh)

MEANING: noun: A ladylove or sweetheart.

ETYMOLOGY: From Dulcinea del Toboso, the mistress of Don Quixote. The name is derived from Spanish dulce (sweet) from Latin dulce (sweet) which also gave us dulcimer (a musical instrument), billet-doux (love letter), and dolce (softly, as in music direction). Earliest documented use: 1748.

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DUNCINEA - stupid emphasis added

SULCINEA - grooves in the National Endowment for the Arts

DULCIKEA - sweet furniture (some assembly required)

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P.S. Dulcinea was never a sweetheart or mistress, more the unattainable ideal that inspired Don Q to do Noble and Valiant and Worthy Deeds. Plenty of unilateral declaration of unswerving loyalty and devotion, but no mutual interaction.