confuso

Forms

confuso (feminine confusa, masculine plural confusos, feminine plural confusas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōnfūsus (“mixed, confused”), the past participle of cōnfundō (“to pour together, mix, confuse”).^[2][1][3] Corominas treats it under fundir, with confundir, which he dates to about 1140, and dates the adjective itself to 1438.^[4] The Academy's dictionaries of 1869 and 1884 still list it as the irregular past participle of the Spanish verb.^[5][6]

The same Latin word gave French confus, Occitan confus, Italian confuso and Catalan confús;^[7][8] Catalan also has confós, remade on the verb confondre.^[7][8]

The Latin verb is con- (“with, together”) with fundō (“to pour”).^[1] De Vaan derives the simple verb from a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰu-n-d- (“to pour”), with cognates in Hittite and Sanskrit.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's oldest record, confusus in a charter of 1093, is Latin.^[10] In Spanish texts the word first appears with the sense “confounded, put to shame”: Berceo's Martirio de San Lorenzo has Mas tu serás confuso, eso será verdat “but you will be put to shame, that will be the truth”.^[11] The DEMel also lists it in the Libro de Alexandre.^[10] In Alfonso X's General estoria (1280) Aman, on hearing the news, fue confuso & muy triste “was dismayed and very sad”.^[12][13]

Semantic evolution

The DME gives the sense “confounded, humiliated” from the 13th to the 15th century and “mixed, disordered” from the 15th: Alonso de Palencia (1490) glosses Latin attonitus as confuso y perturbado, and Nebrija has confusa cosa.^[11] Percyvall in 1591 renders it “confused; confounded, astonished”.^[14]

Autoridades defines it as mixed, troubled and disordered, then as obscure and intricate, said of style or of an order, and as hard to perceive, with the line of the Quijote Oyeron assimismo confúsos y suaves sonídos de diversos instrumentos “they also heard confused and soft sounds of various instruments”.^[15] The Academy's four senses of 1817, “mixed”, “obscure, doubtful”, “hard to make out” and “troubled, fearful”, are still those of the DLE.^[16][2] Moliner adds “ashamed”, close to the old sense.^[17] The word passed into Ladino as konfuzo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1230–1264 – Berceo uses confuso “put to shame” in the Martirio de San Lorenzo.^[11]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General estoria has it for “dismayed”.^[12][13]
• 1438 – Corominas's first record.^[4][18]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia uses it for “mixed, disturbed”.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives confusa cosa with its Latin equivalent.^[11]
• 1550 – the first record in the Americas, in Panama, in the phrase en confuso.^[19]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “confused; confounded, astonished”.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy gives the four senses still in use.^[16]
• 1869 – the Academy lists it as the irregular past participle of confundir.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Mixed, jumbled, in disorder: Los papeles quedaron confusos sobre la mesa.^[2]
2. obscure, doubtful, unclear: Dio una explicación muy confusa del accidente.^[2][1][17]
3. Hard to perceive or make out: Desde la calle llegaba un murmullo confuso.^[2]
4. confused, bewildered, perplexed: Me quedé confuso con su respuesta.^[2][1]
5. Ashamed, embarrassed.^[17]

Related words

• confundir
• confusión
• fundir
• difuso
• Latin cōnfūsus

Usage notes

The phrase en confuso means “confusedly, indistinctly”.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. confuso
3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 188
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fundir
5. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 198
6. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 275
7. ^ a b Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 374
8. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. confós
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. confuso
11. ^ a b c d e 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. 754
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. confuso
13. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
14. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 95
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 508
16. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 226
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
18. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 153
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. confuso