especial

Forms

especial m or f (masculine and feminine plural especiales)^[1] Old Spanish wrote especial, espeçial, special, speçial and especiau, and Juan Ruiz has espicial.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin speciālis (“particular, special”).^{[3][5][6][7][1]} The Latin adjective is formed from speciēs (“kind, type; appearance”) with the suffix -ālis,^[8][1] and DICCA-XV traces the noun to speciō (“to look at”).^[7] Corominas treats the word under especie, the Spanish form of the noun.^[3][5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese especial, which Nascentes calls semi-learned, Italian speciale and French spécial.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is the Semejanza del mundo of about 1223, which says that each of the seven planets has its own particular places, „sus logares espeçiales”, and that Jupiter has „su logar espeçial”.^[11] Corominas has it first in Berceo, whom he dates 1220–1250; in the Vida de San Millán God gives the saint a “special gift”, „un dono specïal”.^[3][5][11]

Semantic evolution

From the start the adjective meant “particular, peculiar to one thing”, as opposed to “general”; the Alfonsine prose uses en especial “especially” by 1259.^[12] The bare adjective was long used as an adverb, “especially”: special mientre in the Fueros de Aragón of 1247, and especial alone in the Celestina and the Quijote.^[11][13] The Academy marked this adverb as old from 1817, but it survives in Andalusia and, as Román noted, in Chile.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Covarrubias in 1611 explains it as what seems to make up a species by itself, and records especial amigo, an honorific title once given by the king.^[18] In 1846 Domínguez added a colloquial sense, “exquisite, delicious”, of choice food.^[19] Modern Spanish uses it for what is meant for a particular, occasional purpose (a special train), and as a noun for a radio or television programme on one subject; the Puerto Rican Tesoro treats this noun as a semantic loan from English special.^[6][20] Moliner notes that in trade especial can name a cheaper grade of a product.^[21] In Chile un especial is a hot dog in a soft roll, and in the Dominican Republic a sale.^[22][23]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo speaks of the planets' logares espeçiales.^[11]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses especial.^[3][5]
• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón have the adverb special mientre.^[11]
• 1259 – Alfonsine prose has en especial.^[12]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz writes espicial.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin specialis, and also insignis and egregius for the sense “outstanding”.^[7][24]
• 1529 – first record from the Americas, in a letter from Mexico, with the adverbial espicial.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records especial amigo; first record of especialidad.^[18][5]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades says that the word is taken from Latin, and quotes the Partidas.^[26]
• 1817 – the Academy marks the adverb especial as old.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin.^[27]

Meanings

Adjective

1. special, particular: differing from what is common or general.^[6][1]
2. Particularly suited to some purpose: una crema especial para pieles secas.^[6][21]
3. Intended for a particular, occasional purpose: un tren especial.^[6]
4. Out of the ordinary because of its meaning or value; cherished: Aquel verano fue muy especial para nosotros.^[6][1]

Noun

1. A radio or television programme devoted to a single subject: un especial informativo.^[6][1]
2. (Chile) A hot dog in a long soft roll, with a sausage and mayonnaise.^[22]
3. (Dominican Republic) A sale, a period of reduced prices.^[23]

Adverb

1. (dated, Andalusia) Especially.^[6][17]

Word family

• especialidad
• especialista
• especializar
• especialización
• especialmente

Related words

• especie
• específico
• Latin speciālis
• Portuguese especial

Usage notes

The phrase en especial means “especially”.^[6][26]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. especial
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 738
4. ^ 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. 237
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. especie
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. especial
7. ^ a b c 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. especial
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. speciālis
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. especial
10. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 773
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. especial
12. ^ 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. especial
13. ^ 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. 495
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 386
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. especial
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. 289
17. ^ a b Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 262
18. ^ 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. 789
19. ^ 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. 743
20. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. especial
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. especial
22. ^ 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. especial
23. ^ a b 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. especial
24. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 350
25. ^ 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. especial
26. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 595
27. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 457