dos

Forms

dos (feminine dues)^[1][2] The Vides de sants rosselloneses have a feminine does, also found in Roussillon in 1284, and an archaic neuter doa in doa mília passes.^[3] The feminine dues is kept in Mallorca and Menorca (pronounced duas), most of Eastern Catalan and Roussillon and part of Western Catalan.^[3] Western Catalan, Eivissa, part of Northern Catalan and Valencia use dos for both genders.^[3][2] Colloquial central Catalan, in Barcelona and Girona, says dugues.^[3][4] The vowel is close, [dós], in Eastern Catalan, Valencian and Balearic; much of Western Catalan has an open [dɔ́s].^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin duo (“two”), continued in its accusative forms, masculine ⟨duōs⟩ and feminine ⟨duās⟩.^{[3][4][5][6][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan dos, Spanish dos, French deux, Italian due and Romanian doi.^[7][1]

The Latin numeral goes back to Proto-Italic *duō and Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁, a dual form.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC give the Homilies d'Organyà as the first record: a monk about to die divides all his goods estirs dos besans que li oblidaren “except two bezants that he forgot”.^[3][6][5] CICA dates the Homilies between 1175 and 1224.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the numeral had separate genders.^[3] In Valencia the feminine dos is old: Sant Vicent Ferrer writes dos maneres, an inventory of Ausiàs March's goods of 1459 has dos tovalloles, and the metre shows that Roig and March used it.^[3] In Roussillon too some documents from 1363 onwards use dos for the feminine, and even Llull wrote amdós les parts.^[3]

The phrase a dos per tres, or cada dos per tres, means “often, at short intervals”.^[3] Coromines rejects the sense “if need be” that Belvitges and Labèrnia give it.^[3] The 19th-century dictionaries also record dos as the second day of a month, the figure 2 and the card with two pips.^[10] In the human towers, the castells, a dos is one of the pair of castellers in the top section.^[5][1]

Timeline

• 1175–1224 – the Homilies d'Organyà: dos besans.^[3][9]
• 1284 – the Roussillon feminine does in a price list of cloth.^[3]
• 1363 – first of several Roussillon documents with a feminine dos.^[3]
• 1440 – Curial e Güelfa: los hulls ... eren dos rubins.^[11]
• 1459 – dos tovalloles in the inventory of Ausiàs March's goods.^[3]
• 1876 – dos per tres “often” in a novel by Genís i Aguilar.^[3]

Meanings

Numeral

1. two, one plus one: Té dos germans i dues germanes.^[5][2][1]
2. (invariable) Second, in a series or a date: el dos de juny.^[5][4]
3. tots dos, totes dues: both.^[11][12]

Noun

1. The number two, and the figure 2.^[5][4]
2. A card, die or domino piece marked with two.^[4][5]
3. (castells) Each of the two castellers in the first level of the top section of a human tower.^[5][1]

Word family

• ambdós

Related words

• doble
• Latin duo
• Spanish dos

Usage notes

A different dos, “back”, is the medieval form of dors, from dossum for Latin dorsum.^[1][13] Jaume I uses it in the phrase al dos, “behind”, and the DCVB refers it to dors.^[11][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. dos
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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, 191
4. ^ a b c d e f g Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. dos
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. dos
6. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 295
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. duo
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. duo
9. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. teu
10. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. dos
11. ^ a b c Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. dos
12. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. dos
13. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. dos