de

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish de, inherited from Latin dē (“from, down from; about”).^[2][1][3] In Latin the particle marked origin, moving away and separation, and as a prefix it formed verbs of privation or of intensity.^[4] In later Latin and in the Romance languages the preposition took over the functions of the genitive.^[5] Cuervo describes the Spanish preposition as covering its Latin ancestor together with ab and ex, and the Latin ablative and genitive cases.^[6]

The same word is Portuguese de, Catalan de, French de, Italian di, Romanian de and Ladino de.^[5][1][3]

The Latin preposition continues Proto-Italic *dē (“from”), from Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ (“towards”), made of *de (“to, towards”) and an instrumental ending *-h₁; the same element is in inde, unde, Ancient Greek δέ (dé) and English to.^[1] Gómez de Silva derives it, perhaps, from an Indo-European demonstrative stem.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Tentative Dictionary's earliest citations are from the Cantar de mio Cid, where de already marks the point of departure in space and in time, a distance, and with de que “since, as soon as” a starting point for an event.^[8] In the Old Spanish texts of the HSMS archive it occurs from 1201.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Cuervo sorts the uses of de into two groups: those where the old sense of separation, extraction or starting point prevails, and those where the local sense has faded and the particle does the work of the Latin and Greek genitive.^[6] Alfonso X already uses it for possession, manner, origin and material.^[10] Covarrubias notes its use with the genitive (este libro es de Pedro), in the sense of por “because of”, with infinitives (hora es de comer) and with nouns of time (de noche, de día).^[11]

Monlau argued that de before a surname is not a mark of nobility: it stands only before surnames taken from the names of places over which a family held lordship.^[12] The first record from the Americas is from Santo Domingo in 1494.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses de for the point of departure in space and time.^[8]
• 1201 – earliest occurrences in the Old Spanish texts of the HSMS archive.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for possession, manner, origin and material.^[10]
• 1494 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: de answering the question whose something is corresponds to the Latin genitive.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes its use with the genitive, infinitives and nouns of time.^[11]
• 1856 – Monlau denies that de before a surname marks nobility.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. de”.^[15]
• 1886–1893 – Cuervo's dictionary of construction devotes a long article to de.^[6]

Meanings

Preposition

1. of, 's: marks possession or belonging: el coche de mi hermana.^[2][1]
2. Forms adverbial phrases of manner: de pie “standing”, de vista “by sight”.^[2]
3. from: marks where someone or something is from or comes from: Mi abuela era de Toledo.^[2][1]
4. Of: marks the material something is made of: una mesa de madera.^[2][1]
5. Marks contents: una taza de café.^[2]
6. about, on: marks the subject matter: un libro de historia.^[2][1]
7. Marks cause or origin: Lloraba de alegría.^[2][1]
8. Marks a quality or condition: una mujer de carácter.^[2][1]
9. Joins a common noun to the name that specifies it: la ciudad de Lima, el mes de mayo.^[2]
10. From, desde: marks a starting point: de enero a marzo.^[2][1]
11. Joins a noun, adjective or adverb to a following infinitive: fácil de leer.^[2]
12. With an infinitive, has conditional value: De haberlo sabido, no habría ido.^[2][1]
13. Forms verbal periphrases, as dejar de “to stop” and acabar de “to have just”: Acabo de comer.^[2]
14. Marks the time when something happens: de noche, de niño “as a child”.^[2][1]
15. than, before numbers in comparisons: más de diez.^[1]

Word family

• del
• dequeísmo

Related words

• desde
• donde
• dónde
• Latin dē
• Portuguese de

Usage notes

De joins with the article el to form del.^[1] Old Spanish often dropped the vowel before a word beginning with a vowel, as in daquí, dél and desto.^[8][1] As a feminine noun (plural des), de is the name of the letter ⟨d⟩, which the Academy gives as a separate entry.^[2][1][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. de
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. de
4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. de
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 2, 759
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
8. ^ a b c Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 163
9. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. de
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. de
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 635
12. ^ a b Monlau, Pedro Felipe (1856), Diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana (ensayo), Madrid: Imprenta de la Sociedad Literaria y Tipográfica, p. 243
13. ^ a b 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. de
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 327
15. ^ 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. 337