cuyo

Forms

cuyo m sg (feminine cuya, masculine plural cuyos, feminine plural cuyas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cūius (“whose”), an adjective with feminine and neuter endings, through Old Spanish cuyo.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word was built on the genitive singular of the relative pronoun quī (“who, which”), which was reinterpreted as the nominative of a possessive adjective; the same thing happened in Sabellic, so it goes back to Proto-Italic.^[5] Wiktionary notes that agreement with the thing possessed is already found, though rarely, in Plautus and classical texts.^[1]

Of the Romance languages only Spanish, Portuguese and Sardinian kept it: Portuguese cujo, Galician cujo and Logudorese kuyu.^[2][6][7]

The Proto-Italic form was *kʷosjo-, from the genitive Proto-Indo-European *kʷosyo (“of whom”).^[5] De Vaan considers Ancient Greek ποῖος (poîos, “of what kind”) an independent Greek formation from the same genitive.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hits are Latin charters with cuius.^[8] The first Spanish record is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where a man who has been given water for himself and his camels asks a girl cuya fija era, “whose daughter she was”, an indirect question.^[8][9] The relative use follows in the Fuero de Zorita (1218–1250): fines go to those cuyo pan comieren, “whose bread they eat”.^[8] The DCECH and the BDELC give Berceo, 1220–1250, as the first record.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century cúyo was common as an interrogative, in direct questions (¿cúyo eres?) and indirect ones; it then survived only in some conservative local speech, such as Cespedosa in Spain and the interior of Argentina.^[2] The relative could once be used without an antecedent, but this was rare even in the old language and is now obsolete.^[2] The use of cuyo for a plain relative el cual, which purists condemn, begins in the 17th century.^[2][10]

As a masculine noun, cuyo meant “lover” and also “husband”: the DCECH finds it in Gil Vicente and in Cervantes, and Autoridades called it familiar and humorous.^[2][11] The Academy now marks this sense as colloquial and obsolete.^[4] Today the word is a relative determiner of written and formal language.^[1][4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – cuya in an indirect question in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century copy).^[8]
• 1218–1250 – relative cuyo in the Fuero de Zorita.^[8]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, the first record for the DCECH and the BDELC.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the possessive relative.^[12]
• 1517 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[13]
• 17th century – the use of cuyo for el cual begins.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the noun “lover” beside the relative.^[11]

Meanings

Determiner

1. (relative, formal) whose, of which: agrees in gender and number with the noun that follows, not with the possessor: la casa cuyas ventanas dan al río.^[4][1][10]
2. (obsolete) Of whom, whose, used mainly as a predicate, also in questions: ¿Cúya es esta capa?^[4][14][10]

Noun

1. (colloquial, obsolete) A woman's lover or suitor.^[4][11]

Related words

• quien
• que
• Latin cūius
• Portuguese cujo

Usage notes

Cuyo expresses only possession or belonging;^[10] Moliner rejects its use as a mere substitute for el cual or que.^[10] A separate noun cuyo, a variant of cuy “guinea pig”, is used in Mexico and Central America, including El Salvador.^[4][15][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 703
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. qué
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. cuyo
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. cūius
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. cūjus
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2016
8. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cuyo
9. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. cuyo
10. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuyo
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 713
12. ^ 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. cuyo
13. ^ 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. cuyo
14. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. cuyo
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cuyo