fallo

fallo¹ verdict

Pronunciation

• /ˈfaʝo/, [ˈfa.ʝo], /ˈfaʎo/^[1]

Forms

fallo m (plural fallos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a verdict is a deverbal noun from Spanish fallar (“to pass sentence”).^[2][3]

The verb is the old form of hallar “to find”, Old Spanish fallar: from finding the applicable law or the facts it came to mean “to give sentence” in the 14th century, and legal language, always conservative, kept the old ⟨f⟩ in this sense.^[3][4] García de Diego derives the noun from fallir instead.^[5]

The Old Spanish verb continues Vulgar Latin *faflāre, from Latin afflō (“to breathe or blow on”), which Corominas explains as passing from “to scent the trail of” to “to come upon, find”.^[1][3][4] The same verb is Portuguese achar and Romanian afla.^[3] The Latin verb is a compound of ad- and flō (“to blow”).^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Diccionario de Autoridades explains the noun by the formula with which judges pronounced sentence, fallo que debo condenar y condeno “I find that I must condemn, and I condemn”.^[7] Corominas's first record of the noun is the Estebanillo of 1646, the text Autoridades quotes: Notificáronme el fallo “they notified me of the verdict”.^[4][7] DICCA-XV, however, records it in its own corpus from 1400, and the CORDE from 1406–1435.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defines it as the sentence of a judge, most often in criminal cases, and gives the phrase echar el fallo, said also of a doctor who predicts a patient's death.^[7] In 1846–1847 Domínguez adds the figurative sense of a judgement on any matter, such as the public's verdict on a minister.^[9] The Academy's 1869 edition extends it to the decision of any competent person on a doubtful or disputed matter, and the 1884 edition gives echar el fallo “to judge decisively” as colloquial.^[10][11] The word is used today also of a jury's decision on a prize.^[12]

Timeline

• 1646 – Corominas's first record, in the Estebanillo.^[4]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the noun and the phrase echar el fallo.^[7]
• 1763 – a record from Santo Domingo of el fatal fallo “the fatal verdict”.^[13]
• 1869 – the Academy extends it to any competent decision on a disputed matter.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) The sentence of a judge or court, especially its decisive ruling; a verdict: El tribunal hará público su fallo el lunes.^[2][1]
2. A decision by a competent person or body on a doubtful or disputed matter, such as a jury's award of a prize.^[2][12]

fallo² failure, fault

Pronunciation

• /ˈfaʝo/, [ˈfa.ʝo], /ˈfaʎo/^[1]

Forms

fallo m (plural fallos)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a failure or fault is from Spanish fallar (“to fail”).^[2][1][14] The DLE and Wiktionary derive the noun from the verb, while Corominas derives both the adjective and the verb from the noun falla “lack, defect”.^[2][1][15]

That noun is Vulgar Latin falla (“defect”), a word recorded in glosses, which belongs with fallō (“to deceive”).^[15][16] Wiktionary takes the Spanish noun from Catalan falla.^[1] The same verb is Catalan fallar and Portuguese falhar.^[15] De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *sgʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble”), with a shift from “to stumble” to “to deceive”.^[17][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in Boyd-Bowman's collection is from Cuba in 1569, of los jornales fallos “the days' work missed”, with the adjective.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades records the noun as the lack of cards of a suit in the card game hombre, and the phrase estar fallo “to be void” in a suit.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Until the 19th century the dictionaries give the word only as a term of card games: the Academy's 1817 edition has the adjective, and Terreros adds semifallo, a single card of the suit led.^[18][19] VOX labels the senses of a fault, error or breakdown as used in Spain, and the DTME notes that Latin America uses falla in the same sense.^[12][20] In Álava and Navarre the adjective means “faint, weak”, and in Chile it is said of grain that has not filled out.^[15][21]

Timeline

• 1569 – the adjective, in a document from Cuba.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the card-game sense.^[7]
• 1817 – the Academy gives the adjective fallo, lla “void in a suit”.^[18]
• 1946 – Malaret records the Chilean sense of grain that has not filled out.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fault, deficiency or error: Fue un fallo de la defensa.^[2][12][1]
2. A failure; the fact of something failing to work, as in fallo eléctrico.^[2][12]
3. (card games) A void, the lack of a suit.^[2][7]
4. (Cuba) A turn left free when the person who asked for it does not come.^[2]

Adjective

1. (card games) Void in a suit: Mi compañero está fallo a copas.^[2][7]
2. (regional, Álava and Navarre) Faint, weak.^[15][21]
3. (Chile) Of grain: not properly filled out.^[21][22]