diestro

Forms

diestro (feminine diestra, masculine plural diestros, feminine plural diestras, superlative diestrísimo or destrísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish diestro, inherited from Latin dexter (“right, on the right-hand side; skilful”).^[2][3][4][1] The feminine continues dextra (“right hand”).^[4] Corominas cites the Latin word both in its short forms and in the fuller forms with ⟨-ter-⟩, and explains the sense “skilful” by the skill of the right hand.^[2][3]

The same word is Portuguese destro, Galician destro, Asturian diestru, Catalan destre, Occitan dèstre, Italian destro and Old French destre.^[5][6][1] French replaced the inherited form with the learned French dextre.^[1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *dekstero- and Proto-Indo-European *deḱs-tero- (“right, right-hand side”).^[7][1] Wiktionary compares Ancient Greek δεξιτερός (dexiterós) and δεξιός (dexiós, “right”).^[1] Gómez de Silva sees in it the contrastive suffix *-tero-.^[8]

Learned words of the same Latin root are ambidextro, dextrina and dextrosa, named because their solutions turn light to the right.^[2][3] The word destral “small axe” is dextralis, so called because it is held in the right hand.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid, which has mano diestra “right hand” and diestro braço “right arm”, uses the word for a favourable omen, and calls the warhorses cauallos en diestro, led by the bridle while the knights rode their palfreys.^[2][3][9] The Tentative Dictionary's earliest senses are “right”, “favourable” and, as a noun, the right hand or side.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X uses a diestro “on the right” and a diestro y a siniestro “right and left”, and his Estoria de España already has this phrase in the sense “wildly, without aim”.^[11] Covarrubias says the word was mostly said of a man who handled arms with skill, and explains llevar de diestro a beast as leading it by the reins in the right hand.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades notes that the sense “right” was little used because derecho was the common word, and adds the senses “skilful”, “shrewd in business” and “cunning, deceitful”.^[13] Cuervo found the sense “right” only in the phrase a diestro y a siniestro.^[14]

The Academy's 1884 edition records the noun for a fencer, a bullfighter on foot and the matador, and for the halter or reins of a beast.^[15] In the Canary Islands diestro means quick, and as an adverb “fast”: andar diestro is to hurry.^[16][17] The first record from the Americas, in 1515, praises a man diestro de canoas “skilled with canoes”.^[18]

Timeline

• 969 – the form destro in a charter of the Becerro of Cardeña, according to the DEMel.^[19]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has mano diestra and cauallos en diestro.^[3][9]
• 1220–1250 – the noun diestra “right hand” first appears.^[3]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's prose uses a diestro “on the right”.^[11]
• 1277 – a diestro & a siniestro “right and left” in Alfonso X's astronomical works.^[11]
• 1490 – destreza “skill” first appears.^[3]
• 1515 – first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines the skilled swordsman and llevar de diestro.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary records the bullfighting senses.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) right, on the right-hand side; derecho: la mano diestra.^[4][20][1]
2. right-handed; also used as a noun.^[4][1]
3. skilful, dexterous, expert in an art or trade: Es muy diestra con el torno.^[4][1]
4. Shrewd and resourceful in handling business.^[4]
5. (dated) favourable, propitious.^[4]
6. (heraldry) dexter.^[1]
7. (Canary Islands) Quick, fast; also as an adverb, quickly.^[17][16]

Noun

1. (bullfighting) A bullfighter on foot; a matador.^[4][1]
2. A man skilled with the sword or other arms, a fencer.^[4]
3. A right-handed person.^[4][1]
4. (feminine) diestra: the right hand.^[4]

Word family

• diestra
• adestrar
• destreza
• adiestrar
• diestramente
• destral

Related words

• ambidiestro
• ambidextro
• dextrina
• dextrosa
• Latin dexter
• Portuguese destro

Usage notes

A diestro y siniestro (or a diestra y siniestra) means “on every side, in great quantity”, and llevar del diestro is to lead an animal by the halter, walking beside it.^[4] The superlative is diestrísimo or destrísimo.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 492
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. diestro
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. diestro
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. dexter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
9. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 218
10. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 192
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. diestro
12. ^ 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. 674
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 272
14. ^ 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, 1213
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. 384
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. diestro
17. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. diestro
18. ^ 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. diestro
19. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. diestro
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. diestro