cómodo

Forms

cómodo (feminine cómoda, masculine plural cómodos, feminine plural cómodas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin commodus (“having due measure; fit, suitable, convenient”).^[2][3][1] Vox dates the borrowing to the 16th century.^[4] The Latin adjective is formed from com- (“with”) and modus (“measure, manner”).^[5][1][6]

The same Latin word was borrowed as French commode (1475), Italian comodo, Catalan còmode and Portuguese cômodo, the last by a semi-learned route according to Nascentes.^{[7][8][9][10]} Bénaben notes that Spanish kept the Latin sense “easy-going, accommodating” of persons, as French does only in negative phrases (il n'est pas commode).^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1535.^[2] The first records in the Americas, from Mexico City in 1564 and 1574, use it as a noun meaning “advantage, opportunity”: he hallado cómodo muy bueno “I have found a very good opening”, writes an emigrant who has found a barber's shop.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Cervantes used cómodo as a noun in the Latin sense “profit, advantage” and as an adjective, otro tiempo más cómodo “a more suitable time”.^[13] The noun sense survives in the DLE as rare, while Salvá (1846) had already marked “comfort” as old.^[3][14] Domínguez in 1846 gives the modern adjective, “handy, easy to use, comfortable”, with examples of a carriage, a room and a light pistol, and the colloquial don cómodo for a person fond of comfort.^[15]

Today the adjective describes things that are easy or give physical ease and persons who feel at ease.^[16] In Mexico and Murcia cómodo is a bedpan, and in parts of Central America it means “cheap”.^[3][17][18]

Timeline

• 1535 – first record of cómodo.^[2]
• 1564 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[12]
• 1605 – Cervantes uses both the noun and the adjective in Don Quixote.^[13]
• 1780 – cómoda “chest of drawers” is taken from French commode.^[2]
• 1832 – the derivative comodín is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. convenient, suitable, easy, well proportioned.^[3][1]
2. comfortable: giving rest or ease, or (of a person) feeling at ease: En este sofá se está muy cómodo.^[16][1]
3. Of a person, fond of comfort and ease (comodón); also used as a noun.^[3]

Noun

1. (Mexico) A bedpan.^[3][19]
2. (rare) Profit, utilidad.^[3]

Word family

• comodidad
• comodín
• comodón
• acomodar
• incómodo
• cómodamente

Related words

• modo
• Latin commodus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cómodo
3. ^ 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. cómodo
4. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. cómodo
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 183
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 329
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. còmode
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cômodo
11. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
12. ^ 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. cómodo
13. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 294
14. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 268
15. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 420
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cómodo
17. ^ Sevilla, Alberto (1919), Vocabulario murciano, Murcia: Imprenta de Sucesores de Nogués, p. 60
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cómodo
19. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 281