dinero

Forms

dinero m (plural dineros)^[1] Alfonso X's Picatrix (1256) has the spelling denero; the DEMel's records also have diners and dineiros.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish dinero, inherited from Vulgar Latin *dīnārius, a form of Latin dēnārius (“a silver coin first worth ten asses”).^[4][5][1][6] The Latin noun is the adjective “containing ten”, from dēnī (“ten each”), from decem (“ten”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”).^[5][7][8]

Corominas explains the vowel /i/ by the influence of the Greek form Ancient Greek δηνάριον (dēnárion), itself from Latin, whose ⟨η⟩ was pronounced /i/ in late times.^[4] The influence would have come in the late Empire or during the Byzantine rule of south-eastern Spain, and spread with Mediterranean trade.^[4][1][9] The REW and Nascentes also take the forms with /i/ to be Greek.^[10][11] The same vowel appears in Portuguese dinheiro, Catalan diner, in Gascon and Languedocian, and in old Lombard and Venetian dinaro.^[4][12] Corominas rejects an influence of the jingle imitating the sound of coins, ⟨din-din⟩.^[4] French denier and Italian denaro keep the /e/.^[10] The Basque word for money, diru, probably comes from an old Romance form rather than directly from Latin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 1081 in Oelschläger's list.^[4][5] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) the moneylenders are promised that the Cid will not give them un dinero malo “a single bad penny” of the profit, and the derivative dinarada “a penny's worth” is already there.^[13][4]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose (1250–1284) dinero is a coin, money in general, wealth (Estoria de España), and a weight of 24 grains used for medicines and silver.^[2] The plural dineros was long the usual word for “money”: the DEMel's medieval records have it 110 times against ten of the singular, and Tirso and Lope still wrote dineros; today the collective singular is the norm, and the plural lives on in rustic Andalusian and some American speech and in proverbs.^[3][4] In most of the Americas plata is the commoner word.^[4]

Covarrubias in 1611 notes that in Valencia the dinero was a small coin worth three Castilian blancas, and gives the proverb Por dinero bayla el perro “for money the dog dances”: most things are done for gain.^[14] Autoridades calls it the general name for any kind of money, an old copper coin of varying value, and the unit by which assayers and silversmiths measured the fineness of silver (ley de once dineros).^[15] Quevedo's refrain Poderoso caballero es don Dinero became a proverb.^[4][16] Modern Spanish has dinero negro “undeclared money”, dinero sucio “dirty money” and, in Colombia, dinero caliente “ill-gotten money”.^[17][1][18]

Timeline

• 1081 – a charter in Oelschläger's list.^[4][5]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid: un dinero malo, and dinarada.^[13][4]
• 1211 – the earliest text with the word in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[19]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses medio dinero as a weight.^[2]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España uses it for wealth.^[2]
• 1513 – Nebrija: dinero, a silver coin, Latin denarius.^[20]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the Valencian coin and the proverb Por dinero bayla el perro.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades: the general name for money, an old coin and a unit of the fineness of silver.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from denarius and the sense “wealth”.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. money: the coins and notes in use as currency.^[6][1]
2. Wealth, fortune: Se casó con un hombre de dinero.^[6][1]
3. (historical) A silver and copper coin of 14th-century Castile, worth two cornados.^[6]
4. (historical) An old silver coin of Peru.^[6][23]
5. A penny, the British coin worth a hundredth of a pound.^[6]
6. (historical) An ochavo, a small copper coin.^[6][24]
7. (historical) A weight of 24 grains used for coins and silverware.^[6][2]
8. (economics) Any generally accepted means of exchange or payment.^[6]

Word family

• dineral
• adinerado
• adinerar
• dinerada
• dinerillo
• dineroso
• sacadineros

Related words

• denario
• dinar
• diez
• Latin dēnārius
• Portuguese dinheiro

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include dinero contante y sonante “ready cash”, dinero negro and lavado de dinero “money laundering”.^[25][17][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. dinero
3. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. dinero
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 497
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dinero
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. dinero
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. δηνάριον
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. dinheiro
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. denarius
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. dinero
14. ^ 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. 676
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 284
16. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 151
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dinero
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. dinero
19. ^ 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. dinero
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. dinero
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 387
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 358
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 263
25. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 598