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amonestar

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word amonestar

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1107 a charter of San Salvador de Oña More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin *admonesto
Ultimate origin
Latin moneō

Pronunciation

  • /amonesˈtaɾ/, [a.mo.nesˈt̪aɾ][1]

Forms

amonestar (first-person singular present amonesto, first-person singular preterite amonesté, past participle amonestado)[1] The Americas also had monestar (Michoacán, 1541), and Old Aragonese had monestar in 1348.[2][3]

Etymology

It goes back to Latin admoneō (“to remind, warn, advise”), but the ending is unexplained.[4][5][6] Wiktionary, García de Diego and Gómez de Silva take it as inherited from Vulgar Latin *admonestāre, a form that every western Romance language seems to require.[1][7][8] The same verb is Portuguese admoestar (older amoestar), Galician amoestar, Catalan amonestar, Occitan amonestar and Old French amonester, from which French admonester was later relatinised.[4][9][10][1]

Corominas considers the question undecided.[4] Some scholars (Ulrich, Wartburg, Spitzer) start from a participle *monestus of moneō (“to remind, warn”); others (Cornu, Gamillscheg, Meyer-Lübke) from a cross of the compound with molestare (“to annoy”).[4][7] Corominas inclines to the cross: Spanish never has a diphthong in the stressed syllable ⟨-mes-⟩, even in Berceo, so it cannot be a popular outcome of such a participle.[4] Nor is it a learned word, since neither Du Cange nor Cuervo found the Vulgar Latin verb in Late Latin texts.[4] He suggests that the cross arose in the speech of clerics and students, perhaps as a joke about how tiresome admonitions are.[5] Other crosses that have been proposed are with modestus, honestus or manifestare.[7][3]

The Latin verb is the simple verb with the prefix ad-.[11][1] De Vaan derives the simple verb from Proto-Indo-European *mon-éye- (“to make think of, remind”), a causative of *men- (“to think”).[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a charter of San Salvador de Oña of 1107, in which doña Mayor makes a grant non costrennida por costrennimiento de ningún omme, mas amonestada por la gracia de Spírito Sancto “not compelled by any man, but moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit”.[13][14] The DCECH dates the same document to 1100; the TDHLE dates it, with a query, between 1107 and about 1220.[4][14] Berceo has Desent amonéstalos que piensen de orar “then he exhorts them to think of praying”.[15][16]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the verb meant “to move, induce” and “to advise, exhort”, as well as “to rebuke”;[4][14] Corominas, following Bloch, notes that this range is the same in all the Romance languages, and that a severe warning is also common in medieval texts.[4][14] The prose of Alfonso X uses it for exhorting with words and prayers, for instilling a moral impulse, and in the laws for warning before a penalty.[17]

In 1726 the Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as to advise, request or warn persuasively, and as a second sense to proclaim in church, at high mass, the people who wish to marry.[18] In 1884 the Academy narrowed the first sense to warning someone so that he mends his ways or refrains from something unlawful.[19] Today it means above all to reprimand; in sport a referee amonesta a player when he cautions him.[20][21] Santamaría notes a popular Mexican use in the sense “to punish”.[22]

Timeline

  • 1107 – amonestada in a charter of San Salvador de Oña.[13][14]
  • c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy) has amonestado.[15]
  • 1228–1246 – Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa uses it for exhorting the faithful.[15][23]
  • 1256–1263 – the Siete Partidas use it of warning before punishment.[23][4]
  • c. 1300 – first record of the noun amonestación, in the Gran Conquista de Ultramar.[4][5]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin moneo and commonefacio for it.[24][25]
  • 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.[2]
  • 1726 – Autoridades records the sense “to proclaim the banns”.[18]
  • 1884 – the Academy defines it as warning someone to mend his ways.[19]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bring something to someone's notice so that he considers, seeks or avoids it.[6][26]
  2. To warn, caution, reprimand; in sport, of a referee, to caution a player: La directora lo amonestó por sus faltas de asistencia.[6][20][21][1]
  3. To proclaim the banns in church.[6][20]
  4. (pronominal) To be named in the banns.[6][20]

Word family

  • amonestación
  • amonestador
  • amonestamiento
  • admonición
  • monitor
  • premonitorio
  • molestar
  • Latin admoneō
  • Portuguese admoestar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. admonestar
  3. ^ a b Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. 107
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 245
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amonestar
  6. ^ a b c d e 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. amonestar
  7. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 170
  8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. amonestar
  9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 111
  10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. admonester
  11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. admoneō
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. amonestar
  14. ^ a b c d e 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. amonestar
  15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. amonestar
  16. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 153
  17. ^ 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. amonestar
  18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 272
  19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 67
  20. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amonestar
  21. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. amonestar
  22. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 96
  23. ^ a b 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. 293
  24. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 292
  25. ^ 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. amonestar
  26. ^ 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, 432

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Amonestar.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/amonestar. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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