condición

Forms

condición f (plural condiciones)^[1] Old Spanish wrote condicion, condiçion and the Latinising conditiones.^[2] The Poema de Alfonso XI has an altered condención.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin condiciō (“stipulation; state, manner of being”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is formed from condīcō (“to agree upon, to fix”) with -iō, from con- (“with”) and dīcō (“to say”); in manuscripts it is often confused with conditiō.^[1][6] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to show”).^[7][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese condição, Catalan condició, French condition and Italian condizione.^[1][8] The French word was borrowed in the 12th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a Madrid charter of 1219, then Berceo.^[3][4] Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa has the sense “nature, quality”: Sigamos sus mannas e sus condiciones “let us follow his ways and his qualities”.^[10] The earliest CDH hit is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250): Dela condiçion del sennor dela mies “of the condition of the owner of the crop”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “nature, manner of being” is very classical in Castilian and can occasionally reach “opinion”.^[3] Alfonso X's legal prose uses it for a condition attached to a vow.^[12] Nebrija's Vocabulario of about 1495 separates condicion natural (Latin ingenium), condicion por estado and condicion por lei o partido.^[13] Corominas mentions other uses, perhaps taken from French, that Baralt criticised.^[3]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a person's nature or temper, as in de buena condición, as a circumstance in con condición de que, and as the law or constitution of a town.^[14] The DLE adds legal senses, the noble rank in hombre de condición, and in Argentina a traditional ballroom dance.^[5]

Timeline

• 1219 – a Madrid charter.^[3][4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – condiçion in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes.^[11]
• c. 1237 – Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa uses it for “nature, quality”.^[10]
• 1256–1300 – a condition attached to a vow in Alfonso X's legal prose.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija separates condicion natural from condicion por estado.^[13]
• 1495 – the derivative condicional.^[3][4]
• 1504 – the derivative acondicionar.^[3][4]
• mid-17th century – the derivative condicionar, in Nieremberg.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The nature or property of things.^[5]
2. A person's nature, character or temper: Es de condición alegre.^[5]
3. The state or situation in which someone or something is.^[5][1]
4. The original, fundamental constitution of a people.^[5]
5. A condition or requirement: a circumstance needed for something else to exist or happen.^[5][1]
6. Social rank by birth, such as noble, commoner, free or serf.^[5]
7. Noble rank.^[5]
8. (law) A future, uncertain event on which the effect of a legal act depends.^[5]
9. (Argentina) A traditional ballroom dance of separate couples.^[5]
10. (in the plural) aptitude, ability, the makings: Tiene condiciones para la música.^[5][1]
11. (in the plural) Circumstances affecting a process or the state of someone or something.^[5]

Word family

• condicional
• condicionar
• condicionado
• condicionamiento
• acondicionar

Related words

• decir
• Latin condiciō
• French condition

Usage notes

The phrase con condición de que “on condition that” is already in the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. condición
3. ^ 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. 2, 170
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. condición
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. condición
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. condición
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ 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, 871
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. condition
10. ^ 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, p. 748
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. condición
12. ^ 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. condición
13. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. condición
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. condición