ancho

Forms

ancho (feminine ancha, masculine plural anchos, feminine plural anchas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin amplus (“wide, large”).^[2][3][1][4] It is the popular outcome of the Latin adjective, and amplio is its learned doublet.^[5][1] Covarrubias already derived it from the Latin adjective, with the change of ⟨pl⟩ to ⟨ch⟩.^[6]

The same Latin word is Portuguese ancho, Galician ancho, Asturian anchu, Aragonese amplo, Catalan ample, French ample and Italian ampio.^[4][7][8] Romanian alone has no descendant.^[7]

De Vaan derives the Latin adjective from *am-lo- (“seizable”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grab”), with the change of *-ml- to *-mpl- also seen in exemplum; he notes that the early loss of the vowel this needs is a difficulty.^[9] Wiktionary calls the origin disputed and gives as the alternative a compound of ambi- (“both”) with an element related to plēnus (“full”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TDHLE's first quotation is from the Semejança del mundo (c. 1223, in a 13th-century manuscript), of a place mucho ancho at the bottom and narrow at the mouth.^[10] The BDELC dates the first record to the first half of the 13th century; the HSMS has the word in a text of 1211.^[2][11] Alfonso X's Picatrix (1256) uses it as a noun, of a stone tres palmos en luengo & tres en ancho “three spans long and three wide”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

From the start the adjective meant both “having a certain width” and “very wide”, as in the large wounds (llagas anchas) of Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[12][13] Covarrubias recorded figurative phrases: viene le muy ancho “it is more than he deserves”, conciencia ancha “a lax conscience”, and tan ancho como largo of a short, fat person.^[6] Autoridades added ancho de narices “generous, slow to anger”, quoting Fray Luis de León.^[14] The Academy recorded the noun el ancho “width” in 1770, with ponerse muy ancho “to become conceited”, and in 1843 the expression ancha Castilla, used to urge freedom and frankness.^[15][16]

The modern dictionary keeps the senses “loose-fitting”, “spacious” and “free, unconstrained”, and the colloquial “proud, smug” in quedarse tan ancho.^[3][17] Technical compounds include ancho de banda “bandwidth” and, in Spain, ancho de vía “track gauge”.^[3] In the Río de la Plata ancho is a broad bean with a black mark, and in eastern Cuba estar ancho is “to be smug”.^[18][19]

Timeline

• 1211 – first text with the word in the HSMS archive.^[11]
• c. 1223 – Semejança del mundo: es en lo fundo mucho ancho.^[10]
• 1256 – the noun ancho “width” in Alfonso X's Picatrix.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin latus and amplus.^[20]
• 1525 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City: veynte pies de ancho.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin amplus.^[6]
• 1770 – the Academy records the noun and the phrase ponerse muy ancho.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy adds a mis, a tus, a sus anchas “at one's ease”.^[22]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a given width; wide, broad: La calle es poco ancha para dos coches.^[3][1]
2. Too wide.^[3]
3. Loose, too big (of clothes): Esa chaqueta te queda ancha.^[3][17]
4. Spacious, roomy.^[3]
5. Free, unconstrained; lax.^[3]
6. Great in size, importance or intensity.^[3]
7. (colloquial) Proud, smug, pleased with oneself: Dijo una tontería y se quedó tan ancho.^[3][1][17]

Noun

1. Width, breadth: Mide el ancho de la puerta antes de comprar el sofá.^[3][1][17]
2. (telecommunications) ancho de banda: bandwidth.^[3]
3. (Spain) ancho de vía: the gauge of a railway track.^[3]

Word family

• anchura
• ensanchar
• anchamente
• anchuroso
• ensanche

Related words

• amplio
• amplificar
• Latin amplus

Usage notes

Set phrases include a sus anchas “at one's ease”, a lo ancho “across, widthways”, manga ancha “leniency” and ancha es Castilla, used to urge someone to act freely.^[3][16][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ancho
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ancho
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 504
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. ancho
6. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 174
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 430
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 241
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. amplus
10. ^ 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. ancho
11. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. ancho
12. ^ a b c 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. ancho
13. ^ 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. 302
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 282
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 236
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 46
17. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ancho
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 101
19. ^ Bayo, Ciro (1910), Vocabulario criollo-español sud-americano, Madrid: Hernando, p. 17
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 293
21. ^ 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. ancho
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 50