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cobertura

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word cobertura

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1140 Cantar de mio Cid More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin coopertura
Ultimate origin
Latin cooperio
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin operiō
Latin cooperiō
French couvrir
Italian coprire
Spanish cubrir
Latin coopertūra
Italian copertura
Spanish cobertura
From the same root
Latin adoperiō ← operiō
Latin operculum ← operiō
Latin opertum ← operiō
Latin coopertōrium ← cooperiō
Latin discooperiō ← cooperiō
French couverture ← couvrir
French recouvrir ← couvrir
Italian scoprire ← coprire

Pronunciation

  • /kobeɾˈtuɾa/, [ko.β̞eɾˈt̪u.ɾa][1]

Forms

cobertura f (plural coberturas)[1] Old Spanish also wrote cubertura, the form of the Cantar de mio Cid.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin coopertūra (“covering”), formed on coopertus (“covered”), the past participle of cooperīre (“to cover over”).[4][1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of cubrir, which continues the same Latin verb, itself formed on operīre (“to cover, shut”).[2][5] García de Diego relates it to Old Spanish cobierta and cobrir.[6]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese cobertura, Galician cobertura, Italian copertura and Old French coverture, the source of French couverture.[1] Medieval Latin used coopertura for a blanket, a roof and armour.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas and the Tentative Dictionary date the word to the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140), where cuberturas are the caparisons spread over horses and other beasts.[2][5][3] In 13th-century texts it is a covering in general, a garment and a tent cloth: Herman el Alemán's Psalter translation has cobrirm'a con la cobertura de su tienda “he will cover me with the covering of his tent”.[8][3]

Semantic evolution

In the prose of Alfonso X the word meant a cover, the roof of a house and a garment, and Berceo used it for rich clothing.[9][10] The figurative sense “shelter, protection” appears in the Libro de buen amor.[3] From 1817 the Academy recorded the ceremony at which a grandee of Spain first put on his hat in the king's presence, and a figurative sense “concealment, pretence”, which it already marked as old.[11][12]

The modern senses are mostly technical: the gold or other assets that back a currency or a financial operation, the protection an insurance policy gives, the area a broadcasting or telephone network reaches, the reporting of an event by the press, and a defensive line in sport.[4][13] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1520, for the roof of a house in Darién.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid calls the caparisons of horses cuberturas.[2][3]
  • c. 1250 – the Bocados de oro and other 13th-century texts use cobertura for any cover laid over a thing.[15]
  • 1280 – the fourth part of Alfonso X's General estoria uses it for the roof of a house and for clothing.[9]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin tegmen and tegmentum as its equivalents.[16]
  • 1520 – the first record from the Americas, in Darién.[14]
  • 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as the same as cubierta.[17]
  • 1817 – the Academy adds the ceremony of the grandees of Spain.[11]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives an etymology for the first time, from Latin coopertus.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cover or cubierta: anything laid over a thing to cover or protect it.[4][1]
  2. coverage: the amount or proportion that a thing or an activity takes in.[4][1]
  3. The area reached by a service, especially a telephone, radio or television network; reception: En el valle no hay cobertura.[4][1]
  4. The people and equipment that report an event; press coverage.[4][13]
  5. (sports) The defensive line in football and other sports.[4][1]
  6. Protection against the consequences of a liability, as given by an insurance policy.[4][13][1]
  7. (finance) Gold, foreign currency or other assets that back the issue of banknotes or a financial or commercial operation.[4][13]
  8. (historical) The ceremony at which the grandees of Spain took possession of their rank by putting on their hats before the king.[4]
  9. (obsolete) Concealment, pretence.[4]
  • cubierto
  • cubrir
  • cubierta
  • cobertor
  • encubrir
  • Latin cooperio
  • Portuguese cobertura

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 263
  3. ^ a b c d e Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 118
  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. cobertura
  5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cubrir
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. cobertura
  7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. coopertura
  8. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cobertura
  9. ^ 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. cobertura
  10. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. s.v. cobertura
  11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 207
  12. ^ 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. 251
  13. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cobertura
  14. ^ 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. cobertura
  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. 707
  16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 314
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 385

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cobertura.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/cobertura. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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