arquero

Forms

arquero m (plural arqueros, feminine arquera, feminine plural arqueras)^[1] Aragonese documents of 1163 and 1175 have archer and archero.^[2] In 1611 archero was the name of the mounted royal guard, according to Covarrubias.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish arco (“bow”) + -ero: a man armed with a bow.^[4][5][6] Wiktionary and García de Diego instead derive it from Vulgar Latin *arcārius, which Wiktionary takes as an alteration of arcuārius.^[1][7] Words of the same shape are Catalan arquer, Occitan arquièr and French archer, and Italian arciere was taken from the French word.^[8][1]

The noun for the bow continues Latin arcus (“bow; arch”), from Proto-Italic *arkuos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂erkʷos (“bow, arrow”).^[1][9] Its closest cognates are Germanic words for the arrow, such as Old English earh, the source of arrow.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to about 1300, in the Gran Conquista de Ultramar.^[4][10] The CDH has an earlier record in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), retelling the death of Saul: Consiguieron los arqueros a Saul “the archers overtook Saul”.^[11] The sense was the soldier who fought with a bow and arrows.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word appears in the Libro de Alexandre, where Pandarus is un arquero, and as a chapter title of Calila e Dimna (1251).^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) defines it as one who used the bow and arrow in war.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition adds the craftsman who makes hoops for barrels and casks, and the adjective in hierro arquero, hoop iron.^[13] The 2001 edition added the sportsman who practises archery, and the goalkeeper.^[14]

The sense “goalkeeper” comes from arco in the sense “goal”.^[1] Moliner notes that it is more frequent in Spanish America than in Spain, where portero is the usual word.^[15] The earliest records from the Americas are from Mexico in 1535, where an advance guard was made up entirely of archers.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar speaks of the archers who overtook Saul.^[11]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre (in an early 15th-century copy) calls Pandarus un arquero.^[11]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria says of a young man that he became muy buen arquero.^[17]
• c. 1300 – the Gran Conquista de Ultramar, Corominas's first record.^[4][10]
• 1535 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains archero as the soldier once called sagitario, and as the name of the royal guard.^[3]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the archer and, separately, the keeper of the keys of a treasury chest.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy separates the word from arco and the word from arca, and adds the maker of barrel hoops.^[13]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary adds the sports archer and the goalkeeper.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. archer: a person who shoots with a bow, now also in sport.^[5][15][1]
2. (sports, especially Latin America) goalkeeper (portero): El arquero atajó el penal en el último minuto.^[5][1][15]
3. A maker of hoops for barrels, casks and the like.^[5]
4. (historical) A soldier who fought with bow and arrows.^[5][6]

Related words

• arco
• arquear
• Catalan arquer
• Latin arcus

Usage notes

A separate arquero “cashier”, formed on arca “chest”, is recorded by the DLE as another word.^[5] It appears in a New Testament of before 1260, where Erastus is arquero de la cibdat, glossed as the keeper of the city's chests.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as the person who keeps the keys of the chests holding the funds of the king or of a community.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. arquero
3. ^ 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. 205
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 317
5. ^ 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. arquero
6. ^ a b c 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. 380
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 670
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arco
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. arquero
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 398
13. ^ 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. 99
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. arquero
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arquero
16. ^ 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. archero
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. arquero