antaño

Forms

antaño^[1] Old Spanish wrote antanno, antanyo and antano.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish antanno, inherited from Latin ante annum (“a year before”).^[4][5][2][1] The Latin phrase is made of ante (“before”) and the accusative of annus (“year”).^[6]

The same phrase is French antan, Occitan antan, Catalan antany, the Old Galician-Portuguese antano and Sardinian antiannu of Nuoro.^[7][8][9] The modern form Portuguese antanho was taken from Spanish.^[7][1]

The preposition continues *anti, the locative singular of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the first part of Alfonso X's General Estoria (c. 1275), with the original sense “last year”: Joseph's brothers say that their land is short of food this year, e fue lo ya antanno “and was already so last year”.^[2][11]

Semantic evolution

Antaño was paired with hogaño “this year”, a word recorded since 980.^[5] Its first meaning was “last year”, and it kept it into the classical period.^[2][12] Nebrija (c. 1495) and Autoridades (1726) give only that sense, and Autoridades calls the word vulgar.^[13][14] Covarrubias (1611) records the proverb en los nidos de antaño no hay pájaros hogaño, said of a house where one is no longer welcome.^[15] Quevedo used the word as a noun, los antaños “the years gone by”.^[14]

Terreros (1787) noted that it was common in much of Spain but mocked at court.^[16] The wider sense “in the past, long ago” was known by extension from at least 1770.^[17] It is now the main sense, and the DLE marks “last year” as obsolete.^[4] In Judeo-Spanish the word still has both senses.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria has antanno “last year”.^[2]
• 1330–1343 – the Libro de buen amor;^[5][19] Corominas's first record.^[5][19]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija defines antaño as “the year before”.^[13]
• 1535 – first record in the Americas, from Santa Marta.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb of last year's nests.^[15]
• 1726 – Autoridades records Quevedo's noun use.^[14]
• 1770 – the Academy notes the wider use for earlier years.^[17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In the past, in former times, long ago: Antaño el pueblo vivía de la pesca.^[4][1]
2. (after a preposition) The past: los oficios de antaño.^[4]
3. (obsolete) Last year.^[4][1]

Noun

1. The distant past.^[4][1]

Word family

• antañón

Related words

• año
• hogaño
• ante
• French antan

Usage notes

The proverb en los nidos de antaño no hay pájaros hogaño is still quoted;^[21][15] Cervantes has it in the Quijote, together with las nubes de antaño for something long forgotten.^[21][15] Antaño is the opposite of hogaño.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. antaño
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. antaño
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. antaño
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 289
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 69
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. antany
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. antaño
12. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. antaño
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 293
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 304
15. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 183
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 113
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 252
18. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. antaño
19. ^ 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. 38
20. ^ 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. antaño
21. ^ a b 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. 96