bestia

Forms

bestia f (plural bestias, diminutive bestezuela)^[1] The Glosas Silenses spell it vistia; medieval texts also have vestia, uestias, bastia and bestya.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin bestia (“beast, animal”).^[2][4][5][1] Corominas calls it a semi-learned word, preceded in the language by the more popular form vistia of the Glosas Silenses.^[2] García de Diego and Wiktionary call it learned.^[6][1] Gregory of Tours already wrote Late Latin bistia.^[6]

The popular descendants of the Latin word are bicho and bicha, Portuguese bicho, from Vulgar Latin *bēstius, and French biche (“doe”), from that variant.^[1][7][8] The word itself is Portuguese besta, Catalan bèstia, Italian bestia and French bête; compare the English word beast.^[9][10][1] The old word vestiglo “reptile; monster” comes from a diminutive Late Latin *besticulum.^[2][4]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain; de Vaan compares bēlua (“beast, monster”).^[11] Wiktionary mentions a proposed Proto-Indo-European *dʰwēstiā, from the root *dʰwes- (“to breathe”), but calls it uncertain.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, have the form vistia, and bestia is in Berceo.^[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it for wild animals, las bestias fieras, and for animals for riding or carrying loads: mandadnos dar las bestias e cavalgaremos, “have the beasts given to us and we will ride”.^[12][13] The DEMel's first primary record is the Fuero of Oreja of 1156.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word meant a wild beast, any animal, and a mount or pack animal.^[14] Berceo also uses it for the devil, and the Libro de buen amor has it as an adjective, “stupid”.^[14] Covarrubias notes that Latin bestia covered every animal, but that in Spanish it usually meant large quadrupeds, both domestic and wild; he also uses it for an ignorant man, and for the tyrants and the Antichrist of the Apocalypse.^[15][16] Autoridades narrows it to large quadrupeds, especially domestic ones, and says that wild ones need the adjective fiera.^[17]

The Academy has given bestia de albarda “ass”, a formula of criminal sentences, and bestia de carga “beast of burden” since 1843.^[18] The 1884 edition notes the use as an adjective.^[19] Colloquial Spanish now also uses bestia for a very strong person and for one who is outstanding at something.^[20] In Argentina, Garzón found the insult bestia used of men as well as women.^[21]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – vistia in the Glosas Silenses.^[2][4]
• c. 1140 – bestias fieras and riding animals in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[12]
• 1156 – bestia in the Fuero of Oreja.^[3]
• 1220–1250 – bestión, in Berceo.^[4][2]
• 1240 – vestiglo “reptile” in the Fuero Juzgo.^[2][4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has bestias pozonadas, poisonous creatures.^[22]
• 1438 – the first record of bestial.^[4]
• 1513 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias uses it of an ignorant man.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades limits it to large quadrupeds, especially domestic ones.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the use as an adjective.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A four-footed animal; a beast.^[5][1]
2. A domestic beast of burden, such as a horse or a mule: Dejaron las bestias en el establo.^[5]
3. A monster, a fantastic creature.^[5]
4. (masculine or feminine) A coarse, ignorant person; a brute.^[5][1]
5. (colloquial) A very strong person, or one who is outstanding at something.^[20]

Adjective

1. (colloquial) Coarse, rough, brutal.^[5][1][24]

Word family

• bestezuela
• bestial
• bestión
• vestiglo
• bestialidad
• bestiario

Related words

• bicho
• Latin bestia
• English beast

Usage notes

A lo bestia means “by brute force, without thought”.^[24] Bestia negra is a person or thing that others hate or fear, and gran bestia is the tapir in Latin America.^[24] Bestia de carga is a beast of burden, and figuratively a person who does the work others avoid.^[5][24]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 1, 575
3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. bestia
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bestia
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. bestia
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 1010
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 517
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. biche
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1061
10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 512
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 97
13. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. bestia
14. ^ 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. 75
15. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 305
16. ^ 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. 306
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 599
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 100
19. ^ 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. 148
20. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. bestia
21. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 55
22. ^ 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)
23. ^ 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. bestia
24. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bestia