credo

Forms

credo m (plural credos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crēdō (“I believe”), the first person singular present of the Latin verb, which is the first word of the prayer.^[2][3][1] In Medieval Latin it was already an indeclinable noun, “creed”.^[4] Meyer-Lübke notes that the word passed from the Mass into the Romance languages.^[5] French credo is recorded from about 1190.^[6] The same verb gave by inheritance creer, whose first person creo “I believe” is its doublet.^[1][7]

The Latin verb goes back to *krezðō, from *ḱred-dʰeh₁- “to place one's heart”, that is “to trust, believe”, a phrase of *ḱḗr (“heart”) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”).^[1][8] Its cognates include Old Irish creitid (“believes”), Welsh credu (“to believe”) and Sanskrit श्रद्दधाति (śraddadhāti, “to trust, believe”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Spanish version of the Cortes of Coyanza, dated 1250 in the CDH, asks the clergy to teach children el credo in Deum, e el pater noster, assi que lo saban de cor “the Credo and the Paternoster, so that they know them by heart”: the prayer, named by its first words.^[9] Alfonso X's Estoria de España speaks of the Nicene Creed, el credo in unum deum que cantan ala missa cada fiesta “which they sing at Mass on every feast”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The DCECH and the BDELC date the word only from Saint Teresa in 1565–1566, well after the medieval records.^[2][7] Autoridades explained the name: the creed is called so because it begins with this word.^[11] Because the prayer is short, it served to measure time: in 1546 a ship stayed afloat no longer than tres credos rezados bien de priesa “three creeds said very fast”, and the Academy recorded en un credo “in a short time” and cada credo “every moment” in 1817;^[12][13][5] Portuguese has em um credo “in an instant”.^[12][13][5] Con el credo en la boca meant “in fear of danger”.^[13]

The secular sense “the beliefs or principles of a person or group” appears in Domínguez's dictionary of 1846 as a political profession of faith, and in Gaspar y Roig as credo político.^[14][15] French had the same extension in philosophy in 1771 and in politics in 1794.^[6] In Chile Román asked for it to be admitted, noting that politicians used it most;^[16][17][3] Alemany recorded it in 1917, and it is now the DLE's second sense.^[16][17][3]

Timeline

• 1250 – the Spanish version of the Cortes of Coyanza: el credo in Deum.^[9]
• c. 1252–1270 – Alfonso X's Setenario.^[18]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España names the creed sung at Mass.^[10]
• 1546 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, as a measure of time.^[12]
• 1565–1566 – Saint Teresa, the DCECH's first record.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades explains the name from the prayer's first word.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy records cada credo, con el credo en la boca and en un credo.^[13]
• 1846 – Domínguez gives the political sense.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy adds que canta el credo, said of something extraordinary.^[19]
• 1917 – Alemany records the sense “beliefs and convictions”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Christianity) The creed: the prayer that states the main articles of the Christian faith; also the part of the Mass in which it is said.^[3][20][1]
2. The set of ideas, principles or convictions of a person or a group: Cada partido defiende su credo.^[3][21]

Related words

• creer
• crédulo
• crédito
• Latin crēdō
• French credo

Usage notes

Cada credo “every moment” is now colloquial and obsolete, and con el credo en la boca “in great fear of what may happen” is rare in Spain.^[3] In Cuba, Venezuela and Chile con el credo en la boca means “in constant anxiety”.^[22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 234
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. credo
4. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. credo
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2308a
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. credo
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. creer
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. credo
10. ^ 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. credo
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 653
12. ^ a b c 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. credo
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 252
14. ^ 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. 487
15. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 670
16. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 430
17. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 472
18. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. credo
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 305
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. credo
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. credo
22. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. credo