envidioso

Forms

envidioso (feminine envidiosa, masculine plural envidiosos, feminine plural envidiosas)^[1] Old Spanish texts spell it enbidioso, embidioso, enuidioso and ymbidioso.^[2] The Quijote has embidioso.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish envidia + -oso: the DCECH and the BDELC list it under the noun, first recorded in Berceo like the noun itself and the verb envidiar.^[4][5] Wiktionary instead treats it as a learned borrowing of Latin invidiōsus (“envious”), and the Academy has derived it from the Latin adjective since 1899.^[1][6] The Latin word is formed from invidia with -ōsus, and meant both “envious” and “arousing ill will, odious”.^[7][8]

The Spanish noun was taken from the Latin one, which is derived from invideō (“to look at with ill will, to envy”), from videō (“to see”).^[5][4]

The corresponding adjectives are Portuguese invejoso, Catalan envejós, Occitan envejós, French envieux and Italian invidioso.^[9] Old Portuguese had enveioso in the 14th century; the modern form was refashioned after Latin.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the first record 1220–1250, and the DCECH gives Berceo;^[3] DEMel cites Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo (c. 1230).^[5][4][2] The Autoridades quotes Alfonso X's Primera Partida: E aun sin esto, suelen ser envidiosos de la buena andanza de los otros “and besides this, they are often envious of the good fortune of others”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The sense “feeling envy” has stayed the same from Old Spanish to today.^[12][13] Cervantes writes embidioso de la gloria in the Quijote.^[3] Domínguez in 1846 adds the sense “covetous, eager”.^[14] The Academy gave Latin invidus as its equivalent until 1843.^[12][15] From 1899 it gave its etymology, Latin invidiosus.^[6] Moliner distinguishes a person who feels envy from one inclined to it by temperament, and Vox records the adjective also for what shows envy.^[16][17] In Mexico and the Dominican Republic it also means “selfish”.^[18]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[5][4]
• 1256–1263 – Alfonso X's Primera Partida uses envidiosos “envious”.^[12]
• 1575 – first record from the Americas, as imbidioso, in Mexico.^[19]
• 1605 – embidioso in the first part of the Quijote.^[3]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as “one who has envy”.^[12]
• 1899 – the Academy derives it from Latin invidiosus.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. envious, feeling envy; also as a noun, an envious person: Los envidiosos no le perdonaron el ascenso.^[13][1][16]
2. Inclined by temperament to feel envidia.^[16]
3. Showing or expressing envy: una mirada envidiosa.^[17]
4. (Mexico, Dominican Republic) selfish.^[18]

Related words

• envidia
• envidiar
• ínvido

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. envidioso
3. ^ a b c d 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. 480
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 713
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. envidia
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 407
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 149
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. invejoso
11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. invejoso
12. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 530
13. ^ a b 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. envidioso
14. ^ 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. 710
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 306
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. envidioso
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. envidioso
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. envidioso
19. ^ 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. envidioso