desembre

Forms

desembre m (plural desembres)^[1] Old Catalan wrote dehembre and deembre; the contracted dembre appears in the 14th century (dembra, 1374).^[2] The DCVB records the pronunciations dəzémbɾə, dezémbɾe, desémbɾe, desémbɾa, dezémbɾi and desémbɾi.^[3] Coromines heard dizémbre at Piles de Gandia (1962) and notes a Castilianised disiembre.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan dehembre, inherited from Latin December (“the tenth month”).^[1][2][3][4] The month was named from decem (“ten”) because it was the tenth month of the early Roman year, which began in March.^[2][4][3] The rest of the Latin word is unclear: the OLD and Wiktionary take it from a compound with mēnsis (“month”).^[5][1]

The same Latin word is Italian dicembre, French décembre, Occitan decembre, Spanish diciembre and Portuguese dezembro.^[1]

The Latin /k/ between vowels was lost, as in desè, giving the hiatus of ⟨dehembre⟩ and ⟨deembre⟩.^[2] Coromines explains why the word did not simply contract to ⟨dembre⟩: speakers felt it should match ⟨desè⟩, and the three-syllable names setembre, octubre and novembre supported it, so the hiatus was kept or filled with the /z/ of ⟨desè⟩.^[2] Wiktionary likewise notes the influence of the ordinal numeral.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

CICA's first record of the word is in the Roussillon Vides de sants, of the late 13th century.^[6] Coromines cites dehembre from Desclot's chronicle, and the DCVB and the GDLC also date the word to Desclot.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The spellings without /z/ lasted a long time: Onofre Pou still writes deembre in the 16th century, and Valencian documents have deembre in 1716 and dembre in 1733.^[2] In the Principality the form with /z/ won earlier (dezembre, Barcelona, 1641) and is now used up to the central Pyrenees; it also prevailed in Valencian, though not without struggle.^[2] Labèrnia (1839) explains that it was the tenth month in the Roman count and is now the twelfth.^[7]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – first record, in the Vides de sants of Roussillon.^[6]
• c. 1283 – Desclot writes dehembre.^[2][3]
• 1374 – the contracted dembra.^[2]
• 1641 – dezembre in a Barcelona document.^[2]
• 1733 – dembre still in a Valencian document.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary heads the word desembre.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. December, the twelfth and last month of the year; abbreviated des.^[8][4][1]

Related words

• deu
• desè
• setembre
• novembre
• Latin December
• Spanish diciembre
• French décembre

Usage notes

The DIEC2 quotes the weather proverb Desembre nevat, bon any per al blat, "a snowy December, a good year for wheat".^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 104
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. desembre
4. ^ a b c d Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. desembre
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. desembre
7. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. desembre
8. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. desembre