conde

Forms

conde m (plural condes, feminine condesa, feminine plural condesas)^[1] The first record, of 999, is spelt komde; the Old Spanish texts also have comde, conte, compte and comte.^[2][3] The commonest form in the archaic period is the diphthongised cuende, found in the Cid, in Berceo and in the Disputa del alma y el cuerpo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish conde, inherited from Latin comes (“companion”).^[2][4][5][1] In the Late Empire the Latin word was applied to the nobles who lived in the imperial palace and went with the ruler on his expeditions, and it ended as the name of a fixed rank in the feudal hierarchy.^[2][4] Spanish continues the accusative form, as Wiktionary notes, through */ˈkɔm(e)de/ to /ˈkonde/.^[1]

The diphthong of Old Spanish cuende matches the short Latin vowel;^[2] Corominas, following Navarro Tomás, explains the form without the diphthong by the influence of the nasal, not by a lack of stress.^[2] García de Diego, by contrast, takes the form without the diphthong as the proclitic one and the diphthongised form as the stressed one.^[6]

The same word is Portuguese conde, Galician conde, Catalan comte, Occitan comte, French comte and Italian conte.^[7][8] Old French also had cuens, from the Latin nominative.^[9]

The Latin noun is a compound of com- (“with”) and the root of the verb “to go”, enlarged with a suffix.^[10] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kom-i-t- (“going together”) and the PIE agent noun *-h₁i-t- (“going, goer”).^[10] The ending of the nominative singular is analogical, modelled on other nouns of the same stem class.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is komde in a charter of 999, in Oelschläger's list; the spelling conde appears in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][4] The Tentative Dictionary cites the Cid at verse 957, in the manuscript of 1207.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Partidas of Alfonso X explained the title as a companion of the ruler: E Conde tanto quiere decir como Compañero, que acompaña quotidianamente al Emperador o al Rey “and count means as much as companion, who accompanies the emperor or the king every day”;^[12] Autoridades quotes the line.^[12] Covarrubias in 1611 also cited the Partidas, and recorded conde de gitanos for the chief of a band of Gypsies.^[13][14] Autoridades illustrated this sense from Cervantes.^[12]

In the 19th century the dictionaries added an Andalusian sense, the foreman who directs a gang of farmworkers on piecework under the manijero.^[15][16] The DLE also has the historical senses: a Visigothic dignitary below a duke, the governor of a district in the early Middle Ages, and the titles conde de Castilla and conde de Barcelona.^[5] The first record from the Americas is from Mexico in 1545.^[17]

Timeline

• 999 – first record, komde, in a charter.^[2][4]
• 1085 – comdessa, the feminine, in a charter.^[2]
• c. 1140 – conde and cuende in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives conde o condessa as Latin comes.^[18]
• 1545 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records conde de gitanos.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin comes.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A count or earl: a person with the noble title just below that of marqués;^[5][1] (feminine condesa) a countess.^[5][1]
2. The consort of a count or countess.^[5]
3. (historical) The chief or captain whom the Gypsies chose to rule them.^[5]
4. (historical) Among the Visigoths of Spain, a dignitary of military rank below a duque, with varied offices.^[5]
5. (historical) In the early Middle Ages, the governor of a district.^[5][20]
6. (Andalusia) The man who, under the manijero, directs gangs of farmworkers on piecework.^[5]

Word family

• condado
• condal
• condesa
• vizconde
• condestable

Related words

• comitiva
• concomitante
• Latin comes
• Portuguese conde
• English count

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 i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 170
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. conde
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. conde
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. comes
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 128
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2
13. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 498
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. 499
15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 275
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
17. ^ 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. conde
18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 316
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 272
20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial