compadre

Forms

compadre m (plural compadres, feminine comadre, feminine plural comadres)^[1] Berceo has cuempadre, with the stress of the Latin word; the medieval texts also write conpadre.^[2][3][4] In Argentina and Chile the short forms cumpa and compa are used, and cuma and cumita for comadre.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish cuémpadre, inherited from Late Latin compater (“godfather, co-father”), from com- (“with, together”) and pater (“father”).^[2][1][5][6] The Old Spanish form, in Berceo, keeps the stress of the Latin word.^[2] The modern form, stressed like padre, is in a manuscript of the same poem and in Nebrija.^[2] Covarrubias called the Latin word new and barbarous.^[7]

The Latin word survives in all the western Romance languages: Italian compare, French compère, Occitan compaire, Catalan compare and Portuguese compadre.^[2][8][9] Corominas doubts that the Argentine and Chilean cumpa comes from the archaic stress, since the feminine cuma could not have had it.^[2] He suggests that an older compá, also spelt ⟨cumpá⟩, moved its stress because words ending in a stressed /a/ were rare.^[2] Wiktionary calls the short form a doublet.^[1]

The Latin noun for “father” continues Proto-Italic *patēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero de Alcalá (c. 1235) has the word in the plural: a father who did not present his son, o rogare compadres “or ask godparents”, was not to inherit.^[4] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 and the Vidal Mayor of about 1250 have conpadres and conpadre in the same sense, of the godfather in relation to the child's father.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

The relationship was one of kinship in the eyes of the Church: Alfonso X's Estoria de España records a law that no man or woman should marry their comadre or compadre.^[11] The Partidas extend the name to the godfathers at confirmation, who are compadres of the child's father and mother.^[12]

By the 18th century common people in Andalusia and elsewhere called their friends compadre and greeted strangers met on the road or at an inn with it; the Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Cervantes's Este libro, señor compadre.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 also records an obsolete sense “protector, benefactor” and the proverb Aclarádselo vos, compadre, que tenéis la boca a mano.^[13]

In Argentina and Uruguay a compadre or compadrito is a flashy, quarrelsome braggart from the common people.^[14][5] In Mexico and the Antilles ¡compadre! is an exclamation of surprise or warning.^[15] In Bolivia compadres is a popular feast on the Thursday before Carnival.^[16] English borrowed compadre in 1834, in American English, for “companion”.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1235 – the Fuero de Alcalá has compadres.^[4]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón have conpadres.^[4]
• c. 1255 – Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora has cuempadre.^[2][10]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España forbids marriage with a compadre.^[11]
• 1495 – first record of the derivative compadrazgo.^[18]
• 1527 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines compadres as those who sponsor us at the font.^[7]
• 1834 – English borrows the word as compadre “companion”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The godfather of a person's child, in relation to the child's father, mother or godmother (madrina).^[5][1]
2. The father of a child, in relation to the child's godfather or godmother.^[5][1]
3. In relation to the parents of someone being confirmed, the godfather at confirmation.^[5]
4. (colloquial) A friend or acquaintance, mostly as a form of address: ¿Qué tal, compadre?^[5][1]
5. (Argentina, Uruguay) A compadrito, a braggart; also as an adjective.^[5][20]
6. (obsolete) A protector, benefactor.^[5][13]

Word family

• compa
• compadrar
• compadrazgo
• compadrito
• compadrería
• compadrada
• compadrón
• compadraje

Related words

• padre
• comadre
• padrino
• Late Latin compater
• Portuguese compadre

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 335
3. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 126
4. ^ 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, p. s.v. compadre
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. compadre
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. compadre
7. ^ 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. 493
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. compater
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 141
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. compadre
11. ^ 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. compadre
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 443
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 177
14. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 250
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 384
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. compadre
17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. padre
19. ^ 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. compa
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. compadre