cinco

Forms

cinco m (plural cincos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish çinco, inherited from Vulgar Latin cinque (“five”), from Latin quīnque.^[2][3][4][1] cinque is frequent in Christian-era inscriptions; it arose from quīnque by dissimilation of the first consonant.^[2][5][6] The final -o is usually explained by the influence of cuatro.^[2][6] Corominas thinks that influence likely, given similar cases in other languages, but notes that a regular sound change, as in Sicilian cincu, has not been ruled out.^[2]

The same word is Italian cinque, Sardinian chimbe, Romanian cinci, French cinq, Catalan cinc and Portuguese cinco.^[7][8] Old Portuguese also had cinque.^[2][7][8] Wiktionary counts ponche as a doublet.^[1]

De Vaan derives quīnque from Proto-Italic *kʷenkʷe and Proto-Indo-European *penkʷe (“five”).^[9] The OLD compares Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte, “five”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word first in a charter of 1090 from Oelschläger's list.^[2][3] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has „Cinco escuderos tiene don Martino” “Don Martino has five squires”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish usually wrote çinco, beside cinquo and cinque.^[12] Alfonso X's Libro del astrolabio (1277) has de cinco en cinco “in fives”.^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 recorded no vale cinco blancas “it isn't worth a penny”, and dar cinco de corto for falling short in the game of argolla.^[14] Autoridades added no saber cuántas son cinco “to be a simpleton” and the plant cinco en rama.^[15]

The 1884 Academy dictionary gave the noun senses of a skittle set apart from the others, a playing card with five pips, and a small five-stringed Venezuelan guitar.^[16] Regional senses include an old Chilean five-cent coin, a Costa Rican coin of five céntimos and, in Guatemala, a marble.^[4] In Panama and Cuba un cinco is “a short break”.^[17]

Timeline

• 1090 – first recorded, in a charter.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid: cinco escuderos.^[11]
• 1277 – Alfonso X's Libro del astrolabio has de cinco en cinco.^[13]
• 1525 – the first record from the Americas, in Nombre de Dios.^[18]
• 1555 – the compound cincoenrama is first recorded.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records no vale cinco blancas.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the Venezuelan guitar called cinco.^[16]

Meanings

Numeral

1. five: four plus one: Tengo cinco hermanos.^[4][1]
2. Fifth, in a series; with dates, the fifth day: el cinco de abril.^[4]

Noun

1. The number five, and the figure that represents it.^[4][1]
2. A playing card, die or domino with five pips.^[4]
3. (bowling) The pin set in front of the others.^[4]
4. (Venezuela) A small five-stringed guitar.^[4][17]
5. (Chile) An old five-cent silver coin;^[17] (Costa Rica) a coin of five céntimos.^[4]
6. (Guatemala) A marble.^[4][17]
7. (in the plural) Five o'clock: Salimos a las cinco.^[4]

Word family

• cincoenrama

Related words

• cincuenta
• quince
• quinto
• quinientos
• Latin quīnque
• Portuguese cinco
• Catalan cinc

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 84
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cinco
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. cinco
5. ^ 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, 706
6. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. cinco
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. quinque
8. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 835
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. quīnque
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. quinque
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cinco
12. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cinco
13. ^ a b 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. cinco
14. ^ 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. 603
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 353
16. ^ 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. 243
17. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cinco
18. ^ 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. cinco