conducho

Forms

conducho m (plural conduchos)^[1] Old Spanish texts also have conduito, conduto and conduyto.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin conductus, the past participle of Latin condūcō (“to bring together”), used as a noun.^[3][1][4] Corominas counts it among the popular descendants of dūcō (“to lead”), beside the learned conducto, its doublet.^[4][1] The Latin cluster ⟨ct⟩ became ⟨ch⟩ here, as in Old Spanish frucho from fructus (“fruit”).^[5]

The same noun meant food in Old Catalan conduit and Old Occitan conduch;^[4][6] Old Portuguese had Old Galician-Portuguese condoito.^[4][6] Corominas thinks the first sense may have been provisions gathered for a journey, but more likely what is eaten together with bread.^[4] In Medieval Latin the noun also meant household and livelihood.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) conducho is the food given to someone on a journey: Martín Antolínez brings it to the Cid, the Cid gives it to his vassals, and the king provides it for the Cid's wife and daughters on their way through his kingdom.^[8][9] The poem also has conduchos a sazones “food in season” among the riches of the Cid's men.^[10][8]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word meant food and dishes in general: Berceo has conduchos descondidos “unseasoned dishes”, and the Libro de Alexandre has carts loaded with conduchos for a wedding.^[10][8] In law it named the food a lord could take from his vassals; the Partidas let the lords of a behetría take conducho if they paid within nine days.^[11]

From the 17th century condumio took its place for the food eaten with bread, but proverbs kept the old word: Donde no entra conducho entra pan mucho and no se cuece trucho sin conducho.^[12][13] The Diccionario de Autoridades already marked it as antiquated, and the Academy still lists it only as an obsolete word for food and for the tribute in kind.^[11][3] Regional dictionaries record it in Andalusia and Salamanca as a synonym of condumio.^[14][13]

Timeline

• 1125 – a charter from León and Castile has the plural conduchos.^[15]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it for provisions for a journey.^[8][9]
• c. 1230 – Berceo has conduchos descondidos in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for food.^[16]
• 1601 – first record of condumio, which later took its place.^[17]
• 1600s – Correas's proverbs still have conducho.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as the food lords could demand from their vassals and calls it antiquated.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin conditus “seasoned”.^[18]
• 1899 – the Academy changes the etymology to conductus.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) food, provisions.^[3][1][20]
2. (historical) A tribute in kind, food that lords could demand of their vassals.^[3][1][20]

Related words

• condumio
• conducto
• conducir
• Latin conductus

Usage notes

From 1843 to 1899 the Academy also listed an obsolete adjective conducho “accustomed”.^[21][19] Covarrubias derived it from an old duecho “accustomed”, and Nebrija translated it as Latin consuetus.^[22][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. conducho
3. ^ 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, p. s.v. conducho
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 61
5. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 247
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1813
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière
9. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 129
10. ^ a b c 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. 749
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 492
12. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 171
13. ^ a b Lamano y Beneite, José de (1915), El dialecto vulgar salmantino, Salamanca: Tipografía Popular
14. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 163
15. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
16. ^ 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. conducho
17. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. condumio
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 273
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 253
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández
22. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1, 500
23. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 316