arriba

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish a- + riba (“river bank”), the second part continuing Latin rīpa (“bank of a river”).^[2][3][4][5] The DLE and Wiktionary derive it instead from the Latin phrase ad rīpam (“to the bank”), with ad (“to, at”).^[6][1][7] Autoridades explained the sense “up” by the bank being higher than the river or the sea, and Gómez de Silva and Bénaben trace it from “to or on the bank, seen from the river” to “up, above”.^[8][9][4]

The Latin noun goes back to *reipā and Proto-Indo-European *h₁reip-h₂- (“steep slope”); de Vaan compares ἐρίπνη (erípnē, “slope”).^[10] The simple riba was soon fixed in phrases and place names and dropped out of use, while its derivatives ribera and arribar lived on.^[2] Galician uses enriba in the same sense, as does Asturian.^[2]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary already gave the Spanish compound as the etymology; its 1899 edition proposed adrepere (“to creep up”) instead, and Alemany's dictionary of 1917 returned to the Latin preposition and noun.^[11][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds it in charters of the 10th century listed by Oelschläger, and then in Berceo.^[2][3] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) a man whose hands are smeared with blood raises them: alçólas arriba, llególas a la faz “he raised them up and brought them to his face”.^[14][15] The Cid already uses it after a noun, Fenares arriba “up the Henares”, and with numbers, de veynte arriba “twenty and more”.^[15][16]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose it means “upwards” and “at the top”, as well as “and more” after an amount.^[17] Nebrija (c. 1495) treated it as a preposition, Latin super and supra, and Covarrubias (1611) adds that in order of rank it means “where the first ones are” and that it sometimes means heaven.^[18][19] Autoridades records its use in writing for “earlier in the text” and with numbers for “and upwards”.^[8] The interjection ¡arriba! is in the Academy's 1884 dictionary.^[11]

In the Americas, de arriba means “free, without paying” in Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay, and estar de arriba “to be in luck” in Cuba.^[20][21][22] In Cuba arriba also means “to the east”.^[2][22] In Mexico it refers to the upper course of a river, and the people of the coast use it for the highlands of the interior.^[23] In rural Costa Rica it means “towards the capital”.^[24] In Puerto Rico it names the main rooms of a house, since the traditional country house stood on piles.^[25] Arriba de “on top of”, perhaps from Portuguese, was criticised as a Cuban provincialism in 1918.^[26]

Timeline

• 900s – first records, in charters.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – alçólas arriba in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[14]
• 1218–1250 – delos ombros arriba in the Fuero of Zorita de los Canes, the first CDH hit without a later witness.^[14]
• 1250–1279 – the senses “up”, “at the top” and “and more” in the prose of Alfonso X's court.^[17]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija calls it a preposition, Latin super, supra.^[18]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[27]
• 1611 – Covarrubias notes its senses of rank and of heaven.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from a and riba and the interjection ¡arriba!.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy proposes Latin adrepere “to creep up” as the etymon.^[12]

Meanings

Adverb

1. above, upstairs: in a higher place or in the upper part: Los dormitorios están arriba.^[6][1]
2. On top of, over something or someone: arriba del armario.^[6]
3. In a higher social position or rank.^[6]
4. up, upwards: towards a higher place: Subió arriba a buscar las llaves.^[6][1]
5. After a noun for a way or slope, up along it: cuesta arriba, calle arriba.^[6][11]
6. After a noun for something that flows, against the flow, upstream: río arriba.^[6][1]
7. Earlier in a text, above: como se explicó arriba.^[6][8]
8. With a number or amount, and more, upwards: de cien pesos arriba.^[8][17]
9. (Costa Rica, rural) Towards or in the capital.^[24]

Interjection

1. ¡Arriba!: up!, get up!, come on!: urges someone to rise, climb or drink up.^[6][1]
2. ¡Arriba...! before a noun: hurrah for, long live: ¡Arriba los novios!^[6][1]

Word family

• arribeño

Related words

• riba
• ribera
• ribero
• arribar
• Latin rīpa

Usage notes

Common set phrases are boca arriba “face up”, patas arriba “upside down” and de arriba abajo “from top to bottom”.^[1][19] In Argentina and Uruguay de arriba means “free of charge”, and in general use it can mean “from God”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, s.v. riba
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. riba
4. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. arriba
5. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. arriba
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. arriba
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ad ripam
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 411
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 86
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. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 102
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 94
13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 172
14. ^ 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. arriba
15. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 69
16. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 51
17. ^ 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. arriba
18. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 296
19. ^ 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. 221
20. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 111
21. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 34
22. ^ a b Ortiz, Fernando (1923), Un catauro de cubanismos: apuntes lexicográficos, La Habana, p. 179
23. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 86
24. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. arriba
25. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. arriba
26. ^ 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. arriba
27. ^ 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. arriba