avenir

Forms

avenir (first-person singular present avengo, first-person singular preterite avine, past participle avenido)^[1] Old Spanish wrote it avenir, auenir or abenir, with forms such as avino, abino, aveno and aviene.^[2][3] The spelling advenir is, according to Corominas, an old Latinising spelling or a recent Gallicism.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin adveniō (“to come to, arrive”), a compound of ad- (“to, towards”) and veniō (“to come”).^[5][4][1][6] Corominas treats it under venir, of which it shares the irregular forms.^[4][7] The learned advenir is a doublet.^[1]

The same Latin verb gave Catalan avenir, Portuguese avir, Galician avir, Italian avvenire and French advenir, with Old Portuguese advir and Old Aragonese advenir.^[8][9][10] The Portuguese verb also means “to reconcile”, as in Spanish.^[9][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where the verb means “to happen to someone”: d'esto que les avino aun bien serán ondrados “from what has happened to them they will yet be greatly honoured”.^[12][4] The poem also has the reflexive “to come to an agreement”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Both senses are frequent in the Primera Crónica General of Alfonso X.^[4] His prose also used the verb for “to meet, come together” and, of a river or stream, “to flood”: the Partidas speak of a river between the village and the church que quando abiniesse the people could not reach it.^[13] Nebrija about 1495 translated avenir el río with Latin inundo and the reflexive with convenio.^[4][14]

Autoridades (1726) defined the transitive verb as “to reconcile those who disagree”, mostly used in the reflexive, and still gave “to happen”, with Cervantes's la primera aventura que le avino.^[7] The Academy marked “to happen”, “to come together” and the river sense as old in 1770 and later editions, and in 1843 added the reflexive “to get on well with someone” and the phrase allá se lo avenga.^[15][16] The participle survives in bien avenidos and mal avenidos, recorded in the Americas from 1515.^[17][18] In current Spanish the verb is mainly reflexive: “to agree”, “to get on with”, “to resign oneself to”.^[19][5]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses avino “happened” and the reflexive “to agree”.^[12][3]
• 1206 – the noun avenencia is first recorded;^[12] avenida follows in 1209.^[20][4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has abino “it happened”.^[12]
• 1250–1284 – Alfonso X's prose uses it for “to reconcile”, “to happen”, “to come together” and “to flood”.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records avenir el río “to flood” and avenirse.^[4][14]
• 1515 – first record in the Americas, bien avenidos, from Tierra Firme.^[18]
• 1726 – Autoridades defines it as “to reconcile”.^[7]
• 1770 – the Academy labels “to happen” and the river sense as old.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, mostly reflexive) To reconcile parties in disagreement: El mediador logró avenir a los vecinos.^[5][1]
2. (intransitive, dated) To happen, take place.^[5][1]
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To meet, come together.^[5]
4. (intransitive, obsolete) Of a river or stream: to overflow, flood.^[5]
5. (reflexive) To get on well with someone or something: Mi hermano se aviene con todos.^[5][1]
6. (reflexive) To come to an agreement about opinions or claims: Al final nos avinimos en el precio del coche.^[5]
7. (reflexive) To adapt to, be content with or resign oneself to something: No se aviene a vivir en la ciudad.^[5][19]
8. (reflexive) Of two or more things: to be in harmony: Esas ideas no se avienen con su conducta.^[5]

Word family

• avenencia
• avenida
• avenimiento
• desavenir

Related words

• advenir
• venir
• aventura
• Latin adveniō
• Portuguese avir

Usage notes

Avenir is conjugated like venir (avengo, avine, avenido).^[1][5] The colloquial allá se las avenga means “let him sort it out himself”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. avenir
3. ^ a b c Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 770
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. avenir
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 497
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 428
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
13. ^ 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. avenir
14. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 402
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 82
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 87
18. ^ 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. avenir
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. avenir
20. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. venir