cumplimiento

Forms

cumplimiento m (plural cumplimientos)^[1] Old Spanish has conplimiento, complimiento, cunplimiento and cumplimiento, with rarer complimento.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish cumplir + -miento.^[4][5][6][1] The DLE traces it instead to Latin complēmentum (“that which fills up or completes”), and Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[7][1] cumplir is a semi-learned descendant of compleō (“to fill, complete”); the variant complir was common in the Middle Ages.^[4] The learned complemento, from the same Latin noun, is recorded from the mid-17th century.^[5][1]

The courtesy sense passed, according to the DCECH, into Italian complimento (mid-16th century) and French compliment (1624).^[4] Etymonline traces the English word compliment through French to the Italian word without naming Spanish.^[8] Nascentes says the sense “courtesy” of Portuguese cumprimento came from Spanish.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to Berceo (1220–1250), in the sense “abundance”.^[4][5] The CDH has it in the Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240, in a 14th-century copy), of a burial made con todo cunplimiento “with all fitting completeness”, and in the Moamín (1250), where birds are given cumplimiento de so ceuo “their full ration of feed”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word meant fulfilment, perfection, abundance and a full supply: Alfonso X's prose has complimiento d'armas “a supply of arms” and todos complimientos “every honour” at a wedding.^[11][3] The sense “ceremonious offer, compliment” is recorded from 1608 in Góngora, then in Covarrubias and the Quijote.^[4][5]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the act of fulfilling an obligation, an obliging act of respect such as a congratulation or a gift, and a feigned act made only for appearances; one of its authors quotes the pun cumplo y miento “I comply and I lie”.^[12] The Academy's edition of 1817 recorded estar or ir de cumplimiento “to pay a purely formal visit” and ofrecer algo por cumplimiento “to offer something only for form's sake”, and marked “supply” and “suffrage for the dead” as old.^[13] In Honduras and the Dominican Republic cumplimiento means “thanks”.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it for “abundance”, Corominas's first record.^[5][4]
• c. 1240 – con todo cunplimiento in the Libro de Apolonio (in a 14th-century copy).^[10]
• 1256 – the Picatrix uses complimento for the fulfilment of an effect.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses complimiento with Latin complementum and supplementum.^[16]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, a full supply of biscuit, wine and meat in Darién.^[17]
• 1608 – the sense “ceremonious offer” in Góngora.^[4][5]
• 1624 – French compliment, which the DCECH derives from the Spanish courtesy sense through Italian.^[4]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records visita de cumplimiento-type phrases with estar and ir.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from cumplir.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of fulfilling or being fulfilled; fulfilment, compliance: en cumplimiento de la ley.^[7][1]
2. An obliging act of courtesy, a compliment (cumplido).^[7][18]
3. An offer made only out of politeness or for form's sake; a formality.^[7][1]
4. Perfection in the way something is done.^[7]
5. Completeness, perfection (complemento).^[7]
6. (obsolete) A supply or provision of something.^[7][11]
7. (obsolete) A suffrage, a good work offered for the dead.^[7][18]
8. (Honduras, Dominican Republic) Thanks.^[14][15]

Word family

• cumplimentar
• cumplimentero
• cumplimentoso

Related words

• cumplir
• complemento
• cumplido
• Italian complimento
• English compliment

Usage notes

De cumplimiento and por cumplimiento mean “out of mere politeness”, as in visita de cumplimiento “a courtesy call”.^[7][12] The cumplimiento pascual is the confession and communion required of Catholics at Easter.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cumplimiento
3. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 135
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 290
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cumplir
6. ^ 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. 321
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. cumplimiento
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cumprimento
10. ^ 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. cumplimiento
11. ^ a b c 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. cumplimiento
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 701
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 266
14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cumplimiento
15. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. cumplimiento
16. ^ 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. cumplimiento
17. ^ 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. complimiento
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cumplimiento