diligencia

Forms

diligencia f (plural diligencias)^[1] Old Spanish texts also spell it diligençia.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dīligentia (“carefulness, attentiveness”), a learned word.^[4][1][5] Corominas dates it to about 1375, in the chronicle of Peter the Cruel, and says it was frequent from then on.^[6][7]

The Latin noun is formed from dīligēns (“careful, attentive”) with the suffix -ia.^[8][1] The adjective is the present participle of dīligō (“to esteem, love; to choose”), which is formed from dis- (“apart”) and legō (“to gather, choose”).^[9][5] Corominas treats the word with diligente, dilección and negligencia under elegir, from the same Latin verb.^[6][7] It corresponds to Italian diligenza.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit in a contemporary manuscript is the Fuero Juzgo (c. 1250–1260), which praises the gran diligencia “great care” of King Sisenand in calling the bishops together.^[3] A hit in the Historia de la donzella Teodor (c. 1250) survives only in an early 16th-century copy, and the DEMel's first primary record is Master Jacobo's Flores de las leyes (c. 1250–1289).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “care and effort in doing something”, came straight from Latin, and the medieval proverb in the Libro del cavallero Cifar (1300–1305) contrasts it with laziness: la diligencia es llave de la ganancia “diligence is the key to gain”.^[3] Covarrubias (1611) records the proverb la diligencia es madre de la buena ventura “diligence is the mother of good fortune”, which Cervantes also uses.^[11][12] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds “speed, haste”, especially in going and coming, and, in familiar use, “a piece of business, an errand” (tengo que hacer una diligencia).^[13]

The legal sense, the carrying out of a court order and its notification, is in the Academy's dictionary by 1817, which also keeps an obsolete sense “love”, after the Latin verb's meaning.^[14] The 1843 edition was the first to define a diligencia as a large public coach that covers its route quickly;^[15][16] Domínguez (1846) says the name came from the speed with which it travelled.^[15][16] Today the word also names an administrative step and the written note that records it.^[4][17] In Latin America and the Caribbean it is common for an errand or a formality.^[1][18][19]

Timeline

• c. 1250–1260 – the Fuero Juzgo uses diligencia for “great care”.^[3]
• 1300–1305 – the Libro del cavallero Cifar calls diligence the key to gain.^[3]
• c. 1375 – Corominas's first record, in the chronicle of Peter the Cruel.^[6][7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin diligentia and gnavitas.^[20]
• 1517 – the first record from the Americas, in Darién.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb la diligencia es madre de la buena ventura.^[11]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “speed” and “errand”.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary lists the legal sense and the obsolete sense “love”.^[14]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary first defines the stagecoach.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. diligence: care and effort in carrying something out: Revisó las cuentas con mucha diligencia.^[4][1]
2. Promptness, haste.^[4]
3. An administrative step or formality, and the written record that it has been done.^[4][17]
4. (historical) A stagecoach: a large horse-drawn coach divided into two or three compartments, used to carry travellers.^[4][1]
5. (colloquial) A piece of business, an errand: Mañana tengo que hacer unas diligencias en el centro.^[4][1]
6. (law) A step taken by a court in the conduct of proceedings.^[4]
7. (obsolete) Love, affection.^[4]

Word family

• diligenciar
• diligenciero

Related words

• diligente
• dilección
• negligencia
• elegir
• Latin dīligentia

Usage notes

The proverb la diligencia es madre de la buena ventura “diligence is the mother of good fortune” is recorded by Covarrubias and used in the Quijote.^[11][12] Diligencia para mejor proveer is the legal term for evidence that a judge orders on his own initiative before giving judgment.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. diligencia
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. diligencia
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. diligencia
5. ^ a b 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. diligencia
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 551
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. diligente
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 232
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 221
11. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 675
12. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 418
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 281
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 325
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 263
16. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 619
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. diligencia
18. ^ 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. diligencia
19. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. diligencia
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 336
21. ^ 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. deligencia