cierto

Forms

cierto (feminine cierta, masculine plural ciertos, feminine plural ciertas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish cierto, inherited from Latin certus (“decided, settled; certain”), originally a past participle of cernō (“to sift, distinguish, decide”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Old Spanish also had certano (Berceo, the Libro de Alexandre).^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese certo, Galician certo, Asturian ciertu, Catalan cert, Occitan cert and Italian certo.^[6][7][8] French certes (“certainly”) continues the Latin feminine plural used as an adverb.^[9]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *krito- (“distinguished”) and Proto-Indo-European *krito- (“sifted”), with Ancient Greek κριτός (kritós, “separate”) as a cognate; the sense “certain” grew out of “distinguished, decided”.^[5] Once the adjective had taken that meaning, Latin replaced it in the verb by the participle crētus.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in the Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, where the derivative acertar also appears.^[2][3] The Lapidario of Alfonso X has the sense “true”: „fallo las ciertas & uerdaderas” “he found them [those things] certain and true”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X already uses cierto for “true, sure”, for an indefinite amount (quantia cierta “a certain quantity”), for “sure of something” and for “accurate”.^[10] Old Spanish also had the adverb certas or ciertas “certainly”, from French certes or Old Occitan certas.^[2] Covarrubias notes the use of cierto for Latin quidam (en cierto dia) and the phrases decir lo cierto “to tell the truth”, pedir lo cierto “to ask the fair price” and no estar en lo cierto “to be mistaken”.^[11] In the slang of 1609 cierta meant “death”.^[2]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 records the hunting sense, of a dog that gives sure signs of game and flushes it, an obsolete sense “accurate”, the slang “cardsharp” and the adverb.^[12] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 has the American ciertas hierbas, for a person one speaks of without naming, in Guatemala and Honduras;^[13][14] Santamaría finds it in Colombia too.^[13][14] The DLE adds the sense “some, a little” (cierta ironía) and the use of cierto as a reply of assent.^[4]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses have the word and the derivative acertar.^[2][3]
• 1240 – the derivative certedumbre (later certidumbre) in the Fuero Juzgo.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – the Lapidario of Alfonso X uses cierto for “true”.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin certus for cierta cosa.^[15]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[16]
• 1609 – cierta “death” in the slang glossary of Hidalgo.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records pedir lo cierto and estar en lo cierto.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy records the hunting and slang senses.^[12]
• 1917 – Alemany records the American ciertas hierbas.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. true, known to be true; certain, beyond doubt: Resultó cierto lo que contaban del pueblo.^[4][1]
2. (before a noun, without article) A certain, some: Lo conocí en cierta ocasión.^[4][1]
3. Some, a degree of: Lo dijo con cierta tristeza.^[4]
4. (of a person) Sure of the truth of something: Estaba cierta de haber cerrado la puerta.^[4][17]
5. (hunting, of a dog) That gives sure signs of game and reliably flushes it.^[4]
6. (obsolete) Accurate; certero.^[4]
7. (slang) A cardsharp; fullero.^[4]

Adverb

1. Certainly; used as a reply of assent: —Hoy hace frío. —Cierto.^[4]

Word family

• acertar
• acierto
• certero
• certeza
• certidumbre
• incierto
• ciertamente

Related words

• cerciorar
• certificar
• Latin certus
• Portuguese certo

Usage notes

Set phrases include por cierto “by the way; certainly”, de cierto and al cierto “certainly”, and a ciencia cierta “for certain”.^[4][17] In Mexico ¡por cierto de…! once expressed contempt for something.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. 2, 70
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cierto
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. cierto
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1841
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. certus
8. ^ 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), p. 2, 683
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. certes
10. ^ a b c 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. cierto
11. ^ 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. 596
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 200
13. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 380
14. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 350
15. ^ 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, p. 690
16. ^ 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. cierto
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cierto
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cierto