cuándo

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish quando, inherited from Latin quandō (“when”).^[2][3][1][4] The same Latin adverb is Portuguese quando, Catalan quan, French quand, Italian quando, Romanian când and Sardinian cando.^[5][6]

In Latin it was interrogative, relative and indefinite, and already in the oldest texts also meant “when” in the sense of cum; colloquial Latin tended to replace the latter with it.^[7][8] The Latin adverb joins quam (“how, as”) with a particle also seen in dōnec (“until”);^[9] Wiktionary traces that particle to Proto-Indo-European *doh₁, an instrumental form of *de.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to the 10th century, without naming the text.^[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it as a temporal conjunction: Quando a tierra de moros entro, que grant auer saco “when he entered the land of the Moors, what great wealth he took”.^[10] The interrogative sense, “at what time”, is recorded from the 14th century, in Don Juan Manuel;^[10] Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor has El ome non es cierto quando e quál matarás “man is not sure when and whom you will kill”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso de Palencia's vocabulary of 1490 already describes the word as an adverb of time used in asking, as in quando veniste “when did you come”.^[10] Autoridades (1726–1739) still spelled it quando and gave the interrogative sense “at what time?”, the noun el quando “the time”, and the expression of surprise ¿de quándo acá?.^[11] The Academy's 1884 dictionary spells it cuando and writes the accent on the noun, el cómo y el cuándo.^[12]

In Mexico ¡cuándo! served as an interjection meaning that something is impossible.^[13] In Argentina el cuándo is a traditional dance and its music and words.^[3]

Timeline

• 900s – first record, according to Corominas.^[2]
• c. 1140 – quando as a temporal conjunction in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[10][14]
• 1300s – the interrogative sense in Don Juan Manuel.^[10]
• 1490 – Palencia describes the interrogative quando veniste.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin cum and quando.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary uses the modern spelling with ⟨c⟩ and the accented noun el cuándo.^[12]
• 1899 – García Icazbalceta records the Mexican interjection ¡cuándo!.^[13]

Meanings

Adverb

1. when, at what time: in direct and indirect questions: ¿Cuándo vuelves?;^[1] No sé cuándo empieza.^[3][1]
2. After a preposition, what time: ¿Hasta cuándo te quedas?^[3]
3. (exclamative) When: ¡Cuándo aprenderá!^[3][16]
4. (distributive) In the pattern cuándo... cuándo..., sometimes... at other times: Llamaba a diario, cuándo por la mañana, cuándo por la noche.^[3]

Noun

1. The time or moment of something, usually el cuándo: Aún no sabemos el cuándo.^[3][12]
2. (Argentina) A traditional dance, probably related to the gavotte; its music and lyrics.^[3]

Interjection

1. (Mexico, dated) ¡Cuándo!: not at all, never.^[13]

Related words

• cuando
• Latin quandō
• Portuguese quando

Usage notes

The accented cuándo is the interrogative and exclamative word; unaccented cuando is the relative adverb and conjunction, “when, if, although”.^[3][12] The phrase ¿de cuándo acá? expresses surprise at something out of the ordinary.^[3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuando
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. cuándo
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. cuándo
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom, p. s.v. */ˈkuand-o/
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. quandō
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 822
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 450
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 311
13. ^ a b c García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. cuándo
14. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cuándo
15. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 321
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuándo