codicilo

Forms

codicilo m (plural codicilos)^[1] Old Spanish wrote codicillo, codiçillo, codecillo, codeçillo, cobdecillo, codezilo and codiçildo.^[2][3][4] Cobdeçilio and cobdicillo are found in 16th-century documents from Mexico and Honduras; the Diccionario de Autoridades notes the variant codicilio.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōdicillus, a diminutive of cōdex (“book; code”), taken in the sense “will, testament”.^[4][7][8][1] The Latin word meant first “a small log”, then in the plural “writing tablets”, a short letter or memorandum, and in law a document added to a will.^[9][10] The Oxford Latin Dictionary derives it from caudex (“tree trunk”); the base noun is a rustic form of that word, with /oː/ for /au̯/.^[9][1] The learned base word is Spanish código.^[7]

The same Latin word gave Italian codicillo, French codicille and Catalan codicil.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vidal Mayor (c. 1250) already speaks of a will or codicillo, and Alfonso X's Siete Partidas (1256–1265) use codicillo as a legal term.^[3][2] Leonese wills from 1282 onwards end with the formula that the document should hold as a will, or failing that as a codecillo, or failing that as the testator's last wish.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages and the Golden Age the codicil was a written last wish made with fewer formalities than a will, usually to add to or change one: in 1490 Alfonso de Palencia explains it as a small writing that needs only the testator's will.^[12] Covarrubias in 1611 records the proverb si no vale por testamento, valga por codicilo “if it doesn't count as a will, let it count as a codicil”, said when one accepts whatever part of a claim will stand.^[13] Gaspar y Roig distinguished open, closed and nuncupative codicils, and noted that, unlike a will, a codicil cannot name or disinherit an heir.^[14] Moliner and Alonso describe it as a document of the time before the Spanish Civil Code.^[15][12] The DLE labels it as former law, still in use in Catalonia.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – codicillo in the Vidal Mayor.^[3]
• 1256–1265 – codicillo in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas.^[2]
• 1282 – codecillo in a Leonese will.^[3]
• 1374 – cobdecillo, the first record Corominas gives.^[4][7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives codicilo de testamento with Latin codicilli.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb si no vale por testamento, valga por codicilo.^[13]
• 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes the spelling codicilio.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law, historical, Catalonia) A codicil: a disposition of last will that does not appoint an heir (heredero), made instead of a will (testamento) or as an addition to one.^[8][1][15]
2. (law) The document that contains such a disposition.^[8]

Word family

• codicilar

Related words

• código
• códice
• Latin cōdicillus

Usage notes

Covarrubias's proverb si no vale por testamento, valga por codicilo was said when something might not have its full effect but should count for at least part of it.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 117
5. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 394
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. código
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
11. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto
12. ^ a b 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
13. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1, 476
14. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes