conmigo

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin mēcum (“with me”) with a second cum (“with”) placed in front of it.^[2][3][1][4] In Latin the preposition was placed after the personal pronouns, so that the first part of the Latin word is mē (“me”).^[5][6] Spoken Latin used mecu and the pleonastic cum mecu, and the Spanish word therefore contains the Latin preposition twice.^[6] Old Spanish also had migo alone, and its /i/ is due to the influence of mí.^[4][6] The same formation gave contigo and consigo, and Portuguese comigo.^[7][4][6]

The preposition comes from *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, with”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cid has the word in the line para estos mios vassallos que conmigo andan lazrados “for these vassals of mine who go about in hardship with me”.^[8][7] The Auto de los Reyes Magos, of about 1180 and in a manuscript of the same period, asks ¿Queredes ir conmigo al Criador rogar? “Will you come with me to pray to the Creator?”^[8]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed, but the form comigo prevailed in the medieval texts, from Berceo and the Fuero de Zorita to the Alfonsine prose,^[8][9][7] while conmigo is the form of Juan Manuel in the 14th century.^[10] Cervantes's text has both con migo and conmigo.^[11]

The grammarians have classed it differently: Autoridades called it an adverb meaning “with my person”, with Latin mecum as its source,^[12] the Academy in 1817 a personal pronoun of the first person,^[13] and in 1884 a pleonastic form of con and Latin mecum.^[14] The current dictionary defines it as the form that mí takes after con.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid.^[8][7]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos: ¿Queredes ir conmigo...?^[8]
• c. 1200 – comigo in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[8]
• 1218–1250 – comigo in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first record in a contemporary manuscript.^[8]
• 1254 – comigo in Alfonso X's Judizios.^[9]
• 1327–1335 – conmigo in Juan Manuel's Libro de los estados and Conde Lucanor.^[10]
• 1526 – first record in the Americas, in Tierra Firme, spelt comigo.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades enters it as an adverb.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy calls it a pleonastic form of con and Latin mecum.^[14]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. With me, with the person who is speaking or writing: ¿Vienes conmigo al mercado?^[2][1][16]
2. With myself, often with mismo: Estoy enfadado conmigo mismo.^[1]

Related words

• contigo
• consigo
• con
• mí
• Latin mecum
• Portuguese comigo

Usage notes

Spanish does not say con mí: after con the pronoun mí always takes the form conmigo.^[3][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. conmigo
3. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. conmigo
4. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4231
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 189
7. ^ a b c d Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 128
8. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. conmigo
9. ^ 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. conmigo
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. 756
11. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 307
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 228
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 277
15. ^ 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. conmigo
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. conmigo
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. conmigo