cetro

Forms

cetro m (plural cetros)^[1] Old Spanish wrote ceptro, cebtro and çebtro, the last in the Libro de Alexandre;^[2][3] cetro is in Nebrija.^[4][2][3] Old Galician had celtro, and Galician celdro and seldro.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin scēptrum (“sceptre”), which is from Ancient Greek σκῆπτρον (skêptron, “staff”).^[4][6][7][1] The DCECH calls it learned, and Wiktionary semi-learned, since the Latin group /sk/ became a single consonant without the prothetic vowel of escuela from schola.^[4][1] The Greek noun is formed from σκήπτω (skḗptō, “to prop, lean on”) with the instrument suffix -τρον (-tron).^[1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese cetro, Catalan ceptre, French sceptre and Italian scettro.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in the prophecy that the ceptro and the priesthood of the Jews of Jerusalem will come to an end.^[2][3] The DCECH's first record is Berceo, who writes of the reed sceptre, ceptro de cañavera, put in Christ's hand.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's General Estoria already uses the plural for heavenly dominions as well as for the king's staff.^[12] Covarrubias (1611) calls it a staff of royal majesty, attributed above all to Jupiter.^[13] Autoridades (1729) defines the gold staff of emperors and kings and records the figurative senses “reign of a prince” and, by synecdoche, “kingdom, monarchy”.^[14] From 1817 the Academy also listed the silver staff carried by prebendaries in church, and later the one carried by the stewards of confraternities.^[15][16] The DLE keeps the royal staff and the staff of the confraternities, and the phrase empuñar el cetro “to begin to reign”.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – ceptro in La fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[2]
• 1236–1246 – Berceo, the DCECH's first record.^[4][2]
• 1240–1250 – çebtro in the Libro de Alexandre.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija has the modern form cetro, glossed “royal insignia”.^[18][19][4]
• 1539 – the first record from the Americas, ceptro de Castilla.^[20]
• 1729 – Autoridades records the figurative senses “reign” and “kingdom”.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the church staff of prebendaries.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. sceptre: a richly worked staff of gold or another precious material, the insignia of emperors and kings.^[17][21][1]
2. A staff of silver or of gilded, silvered or painted wood carried by the stewards of confraternities (cofradías) in their public acts.^[17][21]
3. (figurative) Royal or imperial power; the reign of a monarch: bajo el cetro de los Borbones.^[22][14]

Related words

• Latin scēptrum
• Portuguese cetro

Usage notes

Empuñar el cetro “to grip the sceptre” means to begin to reign.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cetro
3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cetro
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 58
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sceptrum
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cetro
7. ^ 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. cetro
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
9. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024)
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ 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. cetro
13. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 592
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 296
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 199
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 239
17. ^ a b c d 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
18. ^ 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, p. s.v. cetro
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 324
20. ^ 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. ceptro
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
22. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial