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aviso

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word aviso

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1400s early 15th century, Cancionero de Baena More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Latin videō

Pronunciation

  • /aˈbiso/, [aˈβ̞i.so][1]

Forms

aviso m (plural avisos)[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Spanish avisar.[1][2][3][4] The verb, recorded from about 1360, is French: Old French aviser (“to instruct, warn”) (13th century) is formed on avis (“opinion”), which arose in the phrase m'est a vis or m'est vis “I think”, from Latin mihi visum est (“it has seemed to me”), of videō (“to see, (passive) to seem”).[5][2] Corominas holds that the verb is a French loan in all the Romance languages, because only French kept the old phrase.[5] Gómez de Silva derives the noun directly from the French one,[6] and the DRAE of 2001 from a Latin ad visum;[7] the current DLE gives no etymology and defines it as the action of the verb.[8]

The noun is Italian avviso, French avis and Catalan avís.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds aviso first in the early 15th century, in the Cancionero de Baena, with the sense “opinion”.[5][2] The DME quotes Pérez de Guzmán in the same sense: según mi aviso, “in my opinion”.[3] The CDH's earlier hits are other words or the verb form avisó.[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “news given to someone” is first dated 1508, in the fourth book of Amadís;[5][2] the DME quotes Rodríguez de Montalvo's Amadís (c. 1496) for soldiers waiting for the warning of their scouts.[3] From 1515 the phrase estar sobre aviso “to be on one's guard” is frequent in letters from the Americas.[11] Autoridades (1726) gives news, warning or advice, and caution or discretion in behaviour.[12] The Academy's 1770 volume adds the ship sent with extraordinary dispatches between Spain and the Indies, the thieves' cant sense “ruffian” and the phrase estar o andar sobre aviso.[13] Salvá (1846) adds the public notices posted at street corners or printed in newspapers,[14] and Gaspar y Roig records the old plural avisos for news gazettes.[15] From 1869 the ship is a small, fast steam warship.[16]

In the Americas aviso is the usual word for an advertisement;[17][18][19] Alemany (1917) noted it for Chile, Román defended it against the Spanish anuncio, and Malaret (1946) found it from Mexico to the River Plate.[17][18][19] The Academy admitted this sense in 1970.[20] In Puerto Rico it is also an official warning that floods or storms are expected within 24 hours.[21] In bullfighting it is the warning the president gives a matador who takes too long to kill the bull.[8][22]

Timeline

  • early 15th century – aviso “opinion” in the Cancionero de Baena.[5][2]
  • c. 1496 – Rodríguez de Montalvo's Amadís uses it for a warning.[3]
  • 1508 – “news given to someone”, in the fourth book of Amadís.[5][2]
  • 1515 – estar sobre aviso in Tierra Firme, the first American record.[11]
  • 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “advise”.[23]
  • 1609 – Hidalgo's vocabulary of thieves' cant: aviso “ruffian”.[24]
  • 1726 – Autoridades defines news, warning and caution.[12]
  • 1770 – the Academy adds the dispatch ship and estar sobre aviso.[13]
  • 1917 – Alemany notes the Chilean sense “advertisement”.[17]
  • 1970 – the Academy admits the American sense “advertisement”.[20]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A warning or notice; the act of letting someone know: Recibimos el aviso demasiado tarde.[8][1][22]
  2. A sign or indication.[8]
  3. Caution, care, attention.[8]
  4. Prudence, discretion.[8]
  5. (nautical, historical) A small, fast warship used to carry dispatches and orders.[8][22]
  6. (bullfighting) The president's warning to a matador who takes longer than the rules allow to kill the bull.[8]
  7. (Latin America) An advertisement.[8][21]
  8. (Puerto Rico) An official warning that floods, storms or hurricanes are expected within 24 hours.[21]
  • avisaje
  • avisar
  • avizor
  • visera
  • French avis
  • Italian avviso

Usage notes

Set phrases include estar sobre aviso “to be on one's guard”, hasta nuevo aviso “until further notice”, sin previo aviso “without warning” and aviso a navegantes “a word to the wise”.[8][1][22] Old Spanish had an unrelated aviso “abyss”, from Latin abyssus, in Berceo.[25] In Salamanca aviso is a cowbell.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. avisar
  3. ^ a b c d 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
  4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7222
  5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 424
  6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
  7. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. aviso
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. aviso
  9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 571
  10. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. aviso
  11. ^ 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. aviso
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 503
  13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 407
  14. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá
  15. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig
  16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
  17. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
  18. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José
  19. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé
  20. ^ a b 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. aviso
  21. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. aviso
  22. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. aviso
  23. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins
  24. ^ Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779)
  25. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C.
  26. ^ Lamano y Beneite, José de (1915), El dialecto vulgar salmantino, Salamanca: Tipografía Popular
Cite this entry

“Aviso.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/aviso. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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