abad

Forms

abad m (plural abades)^[1] Old Spanish wrote it abbat, abat, abbad and abad; the historical dictionary also lists abbath, auat, abade, abá and abate.^[2][3] A form apat, with the double /b/ unvoiced, is found in Leonese, Aragonese and Mozarabic documents.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish abad, inherited from Late Latin abbās (“abbot”), from Ancient Greek ἀββᾶ (abbâ), from Aramaic אבא (ʾabbā, “father”).^[4][5][1] The DLE names the Syriac word for “father” as the source of the Greek.^[6] In Latin the word appears from the 2nd century.^[7] The sense “abbot” arose because the abbot was a father to the monks.^[1]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese abade, Galician abade, Asturian abá, Catalan abat, Occitan abat and Italian abbate.^[7][8][1] Basque apaiz “priest” comes from it too, and so does an element of Basque place names.^[4][8]

abate is a doublet, used in the manner of French or Italian: Corominas finds it no earlier than Torres Villarroel in the 18th century.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas and the DEMel date the first record to a charter of 1100 in the Colección diplomática de Oña, spelt abbat.^[4][2] In an Oña charter of 1107 F[e]zo camio el abbat don Iuhan con Çid Rodríguez “Abbot Don Juan made an exchange with Cid Rodríguez”.^[3] In the Cantar de mio Cid the Cid sends silver to San Pedro de Cardeña, e que los quinientos diesse a don Sancho el abbat “and that he should give five hundred to Don Sancho the abbot”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish abad meant the head of a monastery and also any priest.^[9] Corominas says the sense “priest, parish priest” is found in the common language from the Cid to Covarrubias, and still lives in Galicia, Salamanca, Navarre and Aragon.^[4] The Quijote uses it in this way (los Abades del pueblo), and the proverb el abad de lo que canta yanta “the priest eats from what he sings” is found there.^[10] The proverb had reached Santo Domingo by 1524.^[11] Covarrubias says the word was commonly used of any priest, as a father.^[12]

Autoridades and the Academy's 1770 edition defined it as the superior of monks, then of some collegiate churches, and a dignity in some cathedrals.^[13][14] In 1817 the Academy added the parish priest of Galicia and Navarre and the priest chosen to preside over a chapter.^[15] Its 1869 edition also lists the head of a confraternity, the captain of the guard of Count Gómez, and the proverb abad avariento, por un bodigo pierde ciento “a greedy abbot loses a hundred for one loaf”.^[16] In Aragon it still means the parish priest.^[17]

From the sense “priest” comes abadejo, first a beetle (1495) and then the codfish (1550–1575).^[5] The Canaries use abad itself for a fish of the cod family.^[3]

Timeline

• 943 – abate in a Latin charter of San Juan de la Peña, Huesca.^[3]
• 1100 – first record in a Castilian charter, abbat, in the Colección diplomática de Oña.^[4][2]
• 1107 – el abbat don Iuhan in another Oña charter, the date the BDELC gives.^[3][5]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid calls Don Sancho of Cardeña el abbat.^[3][9]
• 1159 – first record of the feminine abadesa.^[4][5]
• 1256–1300 – Alfonso X's legal prose uses abbad for the superior of a monastery.^[18]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin abbas for abad, prelado de monjes.^[19]
• 1524 – the proverb of the abbot who eats from what he sings is recorded in Santo Domingo.^[11]
• 18th century – the doublet abate first appears, in Torres Villarroel.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives the word from Latin abbas, abbatis.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. abbot (feminine abadesa, abbess): the superior of a monastery (monasterio).^[6][1]
2. The head of certain collegiate churches (colegiatas).^[6]
3. In the old chapters of some cathedrals, the title of a dignitary or canon.^[6]
4. (regional) A parish priest (cura, párroco).^[6][17]
5. (zoology) The carraleja, a blister beetle.^[6]
6. (obsolete) An honorary title of a layman who held by inheritance an abbey with secularised revenues.^[6]
7. (obsolete) A priest chosen by his fellows to preside over their chapter for a time.^[6]

Word family

• abadesa
• abadía
• abadengo
• abadejo

Related words

• abate
• Latin abbas
• Portuguese abade
• Catalan abat

Usage notes

Abad comendaticio was an abbot who drew the revenues of an abbey by papal favour without governing it or living there.^[6] Oreja de abad is a kind of fritter;^[21] Nebrija already glosses orejas de abad with Latin laganum.^[6][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. abad
3. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. abad
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 3
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. abad
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. abad
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 7
9. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 2
10. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 17
11. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. abad
12. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 41
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 3
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 2
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 1
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 1
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. abad
18. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. abad
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 281
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1
21. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. abad