deshonesto

Forms

deshonesto (feminine deshonesta, masculine plural deshonestos, feminine plural deshonestas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote the word without ⟨h⟩, as desonesto; the Partidas have the feminine plural desonestas.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish des- + honesto, with the negative prefix added to the adjective meaning “honest, decent”.^[1][4][5] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of the learned honesto, which goes back to Latin honestus (“honourable, honest”), an adjective built on the same base as honōs (“honour”).^[6][7][8]

Other Romance languages have a parallel formation: Catalan deshonest, French déshonnête and Italian disonesto.^[4][9] Latin had its own negative adjective inhonestus, which the Diccionario de Autoridades gives as the Latin equivalent of the Spanish word.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel lists the form desonestas in the first of Alfonso X's Siete Partidas, of 1256–1265.^[2] In the law code of the Partidas the word describes things that are unseemly and unfit for clerics to do: desonestas ni menestrales “improper, nor suited to tradesmen”.^[3] Corominas dates the word later: to 1444, when Juan de Mena used it in the Laberinto de Fortuna with the sense “shameful”.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1732 the Diccionario de Autoridades gave two senses: “not in keeping with reason” and “lewd, immodest, lascivious”, with quotations about sinful games and impure temptations.^[10] The sexual sense led the definition through the 19th century.^[11][12] A third sense, “rude, discourteous, unseemly”, was already marked as old in Salvá's dictionary of 1846, and the DLE still lists it as obsolete.^[11][13] In 1884 the Academy put “lacking in decency” first, and its present definition is simply “lacking honesty”.^[14][13]

Moliner separates the sense “immoral, not honest”, used of people and their acts, from the sense “obscene, immodest”, which survives in legal phrases such as abuso deshonesto “indecent assault”.^[15] In Puerto Rico the word is used for a liar or a cheat, a sense change the Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico puts down to English dishonest.^[16]

Timeline

• 1256–1265 – the form desonestas in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas.^[2][3]
• 1444 – Juan de Mena uses it in the Laberinto de Fortuna for “shameful”, the first record in Corominas.^[7][6]
• 1445 – the first of the 19 texts that use it in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[17]
• 1535 – first record in the Americas, palabras feas y deshonestas “ugly and indecent words”, in Tierra Firme.^[18]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as “not in keeping with reason” and “lewd, immodest”.^[10]
• 1846 – Salvá marks the sense “rude, discourteous” as old.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it first as “immodest, lacking in decency”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. dishonest; lacking honesty (honestidad) or integrity: Un empleado deshonesto falsificó las cuentas.^[13][15][1]
2. indecent, immodest, obscene, of words, acts or proposals: abuso deshonesto.^[15][13]
3. Not in keeping with reason or with accepted standards of right conduct.^[13][10]
4. (obsolete) rude, discourteous, unseemly.^[13][11]
5. (Puerto Rico) Lying, deceitful: of a person who is not sincere and acts by trickery.^[16]

Word family

• deshonestidad

Related words

• honesto
• deshonra
• deshonor
• Latin inhonestus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. deshonesto
3. ^ 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. deshonesto
4. ^ a b Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 744
5. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 565
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 383
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. honor
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 341
9. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 128
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 184
11. ^ a b c d Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 381
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 266
13. ^ 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. deshonesto
14. ^ 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. 368
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. deshonesto
16. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. deshonesto
17. ^ 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. deshonesto
18. ^ 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. deshonesto