enemigo

Forms

enemigo (feminine enemiga, masculine plural enemigos, feminine plural enemigas)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote henemigo, enemico and enemygo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish enemigo, inherited from Latin inimīcus (“unfriendly; personal enemy”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin word is the privative of amīcus (“friend”), formed with in- (“not”), and the latter comes from amāre (“to love”).^[4][7][8] In Latin it first meant a personal enemy, as against hostis, the public enemy.^[7] Christian Latin also used it for the devil.^[7][9]

The same Latin word is Portuguese inimigo, Galician inimigo, Asturian enemigu, Catalan enemic, Occitan enemic, French ennemi and Italian nemico.^[10][7][11] Medieval Galician-Portuguese had eemigo, eimigo and iimigo.^[12] Nascentes takes the modern Portuguese word for a remade form of archaic enmigo and imigo.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is already in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140).^[4][5] The earliest texts use it for one who wishes another harm and, in Berceo and the Libro de Apolonio, for the devil: „El mortal enemigo pleno de travesura” “the deadly enemy, full of mischief”.^[2][14]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the adjective means “opposed, contrary”, even of astrological houses, and the noun both a personal foe and the opponent in war.^[15] The feminine enemiga also meant “enmity” and “wickedness” in Old Spanish.^[4][5] The Partidas defined the enemigo in law as one who had killed a man's father, mother or kin to the fourth degree.^[16] Covarrubias quotes it in 1611, and the Academy kept the definition until the present dictionary.^[17][16][6]

Covarrubias also says that used absolutely the word means the devil, the enemy of mankind, and that poets call a beloved who does not return their love dulce enemiga mía.^[17] He lists the proverbs al enemigo la puente de plata, de los enemigos, los menos and amigo reconciliado, enemigo doblado; the first, which advises letting a fleeing enemy go, is in the Quijote as al enemigo que huye, hazerle la puente de plata.^[18][19] Autoridades adds ser enemigo de “to dislike”, which Cervantes uses when Don Quixote says he is enemigo de meterme en ruidos ni pendencias.^[16][19] The Academy first gave the etymology in 1884, with enemigo jurado “sworn enemy”.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses enemigo.^[4][5]
• 1211 – the earliest dated text with the word in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[21]
• c. 1250 – enemiga “enmity, wickedness”.^[5][10]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios uses the adjective of astrological houses.^[15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija renders enemigo publico by Latin hostis and perduellis.^[22]
• 1529 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives the sense “devil” and a set of proverbs.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology and enemigo jurado.^[20]

Meanings

Adjective

1. hostile, contrary, opposed: Es enemiga de los cambios.^[6][1][24]
2. Of a person or country: on the opposing side in a war: un barco enemigo.^[6]

Noun

1. An enemy or foe: someone who bears another ill will and wishes or does them harm.^[6][1]
2. The enemy: the people or countries one is at war with.^[6][24]
3. (historical, law) One who had killed another's father, mother or relative to the fourth degree, or accused him of a serious crime.^[6]
4. The devil (also enemigo malo).^[6]

Word family

• enemigar

Related words

• enemistad
• enemistar
• amigo
• amar
• Latin inimicus
• Portuguese inimigo

Usage notes

Ser enemigo de algo means “to dislike something, to be against it”.^[24][16] The proverb a enemigo que huye, puente de plata advises making a retreating enemy's escape easy.^[24][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 1
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. enemigo
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 232
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amar
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. enemigo
7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ennemi
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. inimīcus
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. inimicus
10. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 379
11. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. enemigu
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3455
13. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. inimigo
14. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 329
15. ^ 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. enemigo
16. ^ 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, 460
17. ^ 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. 740
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 296
19. ^ 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. 462
20. ^ 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. 427
21. ^ 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. enemigo
22. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 344
23. ^ 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. enemigo
24. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. enemigo