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cortés

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word cortés

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1215 Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, in a 14th-century copy More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin hortus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish corte
Spanish cortés

Pronunciation

  • /koɾˈtes/, [koɾˈt̪es][1]

Forms

cortés m or f (masculine and feminine plural corteses)[1] Old Spanish also had a feminine cortesa, as in the name of a board game, la buffa cortesa, in Alfonso X's book of games of 1283.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish corte + -és, from corte in the sense “royal court”: the word was applied to the manners learned at court.[4][5][6][1][7] Corominas notes that the same formation is common to all the Romance languages of the West.[4] It matches Portuguese cortês, recorded from the 13th century,[8] Catalan cortès,[9] French courtois, a remodelling of curteis (1080),[10] and Italian cortese, which Nocentini takes from Old Occitan cortes.[11]

The base noun goes back to Vulgar Latin cors, a form of Latin cohors (“enclosure, yard; retinue”), which is derived from hortus (“enclosure; garden”).[4][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, dated about 1215 but known from a 14th-century copy, which says of the saint Semejaba cortés “she seemed courtly”.[13][14] Corominas gives Berceo as the first record, and the Breve diccionario dates the word 1220–1250.[4][5] The Siete Partidas of Alfonso X (1256–1263) explain the name: E otrosi llamarlos han corteses, porque las bondades e los otros buenos enseñamientos, a que llaman cortesia... “and they shall also call them courteous, because the virtues and other good teachings that they call courtesy...”.[14]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant “attentive, polite, affable”, the Academy's definition from Autoridades to the present.[14][15][16][6] Autoridades still explained it by the court, since those who followed the court were more obliged to be polite, and quoted the Partidas: noblemen sent their sons to be brought up at the courts of kings porque aprisiessen a ser corteses “so that they might learn to be courteous”.[15] In Old Spanish it was often paired with palaciano “of the palace”, as in Alfonso X's Setenario.[13] Salvá recorded an obsolete sense “ingenious”.[17]

The proverbial phrase lo cortés no quita lo valiente says that politeness and courage go together.[18][19]

Timeline

  • c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, in a 14th-century copy.[13]
  • 1220–1250 – Berceo uses corteses.[5][13]
  • 1254 – the Judizios de las estrellas of Alfonso X's court speak of omnes bien ensennados & corteses.[2]
  • 1256–1263 – the Siete Partidas explain the name by the good teachings called courtesy.[14]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin urbanus, comis and affabilis for it, and records descortés.[20][4]
  • 1560 – first record from the Americas, in Yucatán.[21]
  • 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from corte.[15]
  • 1846 – Domínguez records the phrase lo cortés no quita a lo valiente.[19]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. courteous, polite; attentive, considerate and well-mannered towards others: Fue muy cortés con los invitados.[6][18][1]
  2. Of words, gestures or behaviour: proper to a courteous person: una respuesta cortés pero seca.[22][18]

Word family

  • cortesía
  • descortés
  • corte
  • cortesano
  • Portuguese cortês
  • French courtois

Usage notes

Cortés has one form for both genders (un chico cortés, una chica cortés), plural corteses.[15][1] A separate cortés, named after the conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), is a tree of the bignonia family in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, whose wood is used in cabinetmaking; it is also spelt cortez.[23][24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. cortés
  3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cortés
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 213
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. corte
  6. ^ 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. cortés
  7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 198
  8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cortês
  9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. cortès
  10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1717
  13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cortés
  14. ^ a b c d 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. 798
  15. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. cortés
  16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 216
  17. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 305
  18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cortés
  19. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 478
  20. ^ 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. cortés
  21. ^ 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. cortés
  22. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. cortés
  23. ^ 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. cortés 2
  24. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cortés
Cite this entry

“Cortés.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/cort%C3%A9s. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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