anciano

Forms

anciano (feminine anciana, masculine plural ancianos, feminine plural ancianas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French anciien (“ancient, former”), an early borrowing from French or perhaps Occitan, according to Corominas and the Academy.^[2][3] The French word is derived from the adverb ainz (“before”), which is from Latin ante (“before”).^[3][4] Corominas, following Gamillscheg, argues that the trisyllabic Old French form cannot continue a *antiānus or *anteānus already formed in Latin, and since Spanish has no trace of this Romance adverb, seen in Italian anzi, the word must have come from French or Occitan.^[2][5]

Wiktionary, García de Diego and Bénaben trace it instead to the first of these Vulgar Latin adjectives, formed from the preposition; the DRAE 2001 and Moliner give the second, and Alonso and the TDHLE cite Medieval Latin antianus.^{[1][6][7][8][9][10][11]} The DHLF notes that this Latin word had a sense of rank rather than of age.^[12] The same word is French ancien, Catalan ancià and Portuguese ancião, and Basque aintzin (“ancient, old”).^[2][1]

The Latin preposition goes back to Proto-Italic *anti and Proto-Indo-European *h₂enti, the locative of a root noun meaning “front”.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TDHLE's earliest quotation is from Almerich's Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where the waters from Jerusalem will run, half of them, a la mar anciana, translating the Hebrew word for the “former”, that is the eastern, sea; the sense is “first, former”.^[11] Corominas's first record is in Berceo, and the BDELC dates the word to the first half of the 13th century.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Berceo it means “of former times”, as in un mártir anciano “a martyr of old”.^[11][14] In the prose of Alfonso X it already means “old” of people: the General Estoria speaks of good women ancianas, and the Estoria de España explains Latin senes by ancianos.^[15] Alfonso's legal works say that the old should be believed more than the young.^[10]

Nebrija gave anciano en edad, viejo with Latin senex and senior.^[16] Covarrubias defined it as a man advanced in days, an old man, and traced it to Latin annus “year”, an opinion of his time.^[17] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the person of many years and, figuratively, anything ancient.^[18] The Academy's dictionary of 1770 marked the sense “ancient” as antiquated and recorded the ancianos of the military orders, the senior friars who advised the prior of each convent.^[19] The edition of 1884 added the members of the Sanhedrin and the elders who governed the churches in apostolic times.^[20] Moliner notes that it is used of people only and is more respectful than viejo, especially as a noun.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has la mar anciana “the former sea”.^[11]
• c. 1235 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo has un mártir anciano.^[11][2]
• 1272–1275 – the General Estoria uses it of old women.^[15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin senex and senior.^[16]
• 1526 – the first record from the Americas, in Honduras: hombre anciano, devoto.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin annus.^[17]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[18]
• 1770 – the Academy records the ancianos of the military orders.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds the Sanhedrin and the apostolic elders.^[20]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person: elderly, of great age; also as a noun, an elderly person.^[3][1]
2. Typical of an elderly person.^[3]
3. (rare) Ancient, existing for a long time.^[3][1]

Noun

1. A member of the Sanhedrin.^[3]
2. In apostolic times, each of the elders who governed the churches.^[8]
3. In the military orders, the senior friar of each convent.^[3]

Word family

• ancianía
• ancianidad
• ancianismo

Related words

• ante
• antes
• French ancien

Usage notes

Moliner notes that anciano is applied only to people and is a more respectful word than viejo, especially as a noun.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 253
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. anciano
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ains
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. anciano
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 554
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. anciano
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. anciano
9. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. anciano
10. ^ 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. 301
11. ^ 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. anciano
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ancien
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 51
15. ^ 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. anciano
16. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 293
17. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 174
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 283
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 237
20. ^ 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. 71
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. anciano