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ahora

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word ahora

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1107 a document, in the form agora More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin hac hora via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin hāc hōrā

Pronunciation

  • /aˈoɾa/, [aˈo.ɾa][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish agora, inherited from Latin hāc hōrā (“at this hour”), the ablative of hic (“this”) and hōra (“hour”).[2][1][3][4] Corominas allows at most a variant ha hora.[2] García de Diego, Alonso's medieval dictionary and the Academy's historical dictionary derive the word instead from ad hōram (“to the hour”).[5][6][7] The same Latin phrase is the source of Portuguese agora, Catalan ara, Occitan ara and Old French ore;[2] Wiktionary also compares Italian ora.[1] The noun is from Ancient Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “period of time, hour”).[2]

The old form was general until the end of the Middle Ages.[2] The reduced form appears once, as aora, in Juan Ruiz, but the glossaries of about 1400, Alfonso de Palencia, the Celestina, Nebrija and even Covarrubias know only the older form.[2] Juan de Valdés still preferred it in the 16th century; in Cervantes and Góngora the modern form is already the more frequent, and the old one was left to elevated style and to rustic speech, where it survives today.[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is agora in a document of 1107.[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it for “now”: „agora nos partimos, Dios sabe el ayuntar” “now we part;[8] God knows when we shall meet again”.[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses agora for “at this hour, at the present time”.[10] Followed by an expression of time it meant “ago” (agora diez años in Quevedo), a contraction of ahora ha that is still very much alive in the Americas.[2] Grammaticalised and written ora, the word was used as an alternative conjunction, ora … ora …, from 1576.[2]

The Autoridades preferred the spelling ahora to aora and agora, as being “at this hour”, and quoted Quevedo's list of poor choices that included agora for ahora; it also recorded ahora bien “that being so”.[11] Cuervo distinguished the present moment, the very recent past and the near future, the continuative ahora bien and the alternative ahora … ahora.[8] In much of Latin America ahora means “today”, and in Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica “later today”.[12] The diminutive ahorita is very frequent in the Americas,[13] and popular speech in Andalusia and in America also shortens the word to hora.[7]

Timeline

  • 1107 – the first record, as agora.[2]
  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses agora.[2][9]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario: conuiene agora que digamos “now we must say”.[10]
  • Early 14th century – Juan Ruiz writes aora once.[2][1]
  • 1525 – the first record from the Americas, agora in Santo Domingo.[14]
  • 1576 – the first record of the conjunction ora … ora ….[2]
  • 1726 – the Autoridades prefers the spelling ahora.[11]
  • 1770 – the Academy's dictionary records ahora, ahora and ahora bien.[15]
  • 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “De agora”.[16]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. now: at this moment or at the present time: Ahora no puedo atenderte.[4][1]
  2. (as a noun, usually after a preposition) The present: los jóvenes de ahora.[4]
  3. A moment ago: Ahora la he visto pasar.[4]
  4. In a moment, shortly: Ahora vuelvo.[4]
  5. (Latin America) Today.[4][12]
  6. In correlations, at one time … at another: ahora reía, ahora lloraba.[4]
  7. however, but, like ahora bien: Puedes ir; ahora, no vuelvas tarde.[4]

Conjunction

  1. ahora … ahora …: whether … or, introducing contrasting possibilities.[4][1]

Word family

  • ahorita

Usage notes

Ahora bien “that being so; however” is a set phrase, and por ahora means “for the time being”.[4][17] The older form agora is still heard in rural and non-standard speech.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 387
  3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. ahora
  4. ^ 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. ahora
  5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ad horam
  6. ^ Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 190
  7. ^ a b 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. ahora
  8. ^ a b Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 285
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ahora
  10. ^ a b 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. ahora
  11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 138
  12. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. ahora
  13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ahora
  14. ^ 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. agora
  15. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 117
  16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 33
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 36

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Ahora.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/ahora. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·