famoso

Forms

famoso (feminine famosa, masculine plural famosos, feminine plural famosas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fāmōsus (“much talked of, famous”), formed from fāma (“talk, report, fame”) with the suffix -ōsus.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} Corominas lists it among the derivatives of fama that show clear signs of being learned.^[2] In Latin the adjective was used both in a good sense, “renowned”, and in a bad one, “notorious, of ill repute”; the good sense is not found before Augustus.^[6][7] In Medieval Latin it could mean “suspected of a crime”.^[8]

The same Latin word was taken into Portuguese famoso, Galician famoso, Catalan famós, French fameux and Italian famoso.^[9][10][1] In Asturias the word, Asturian famosu, has also come to mean “in good health, in good spirits”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DPCAX quotes it from Alfonso X's General Estoria IV of 1280: la famosa batalla de los de cartago “the famous battle of the Carthaginians”.^[12] The DEMel also lists famoso libelo from the Siete Partidas of 1256–1265.^[13] Corominas dates it from the Corbacho of 1438.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The libelo famoso of the Partidas is a defamatory writing;^[13][14] Covarrubias still explains it as an anonymous paper that attacks someone's honour, and gives famoso vellaco for a man known as a rogue.^[13][14] Nebrija gave the Latin equivalents gloriosus and celebris.^[15] Autoridades stresses that the word was used in a good and a bad sense alike (comedia famosa, ladrón famoso); a ladrón famoso was a thief convicted of three thefts.^[16] It also records the senses “good, perfect, worthy of fame” and “pleasant in character and manners”.^[16]

The Academy's dictionaries from 1817 add an obsolete sense “visible, beyond doubt”.^[17] In 1884 the Academy added a colloquial use for persons and sayings that draw attention by their wit or oddity (famoso disparate).^[18] Today the DLE also uses the word as a noun for a celebrity, and colloquially for something too well known in a given setting.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 1256–1265 – famoso libelo in the Siete Partidas.^[13]
• 1280 – la famosa batalla in the General Estoria IV.^[12]
• 1438 – Corominas's first record, in the Corbacho.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin gloriosus and celebris.^[15]
• 1571 – first record in the Americas, in Alonso de Molina's dictionary (Mexico City).^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains libelo famoso.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the good and bad senses and ladrón famoso.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the colloquial sense “remarkable for wit or oddity”.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Widely known; famous; also as a noun, a celebrity: una cantante famosa.^[4][1]
2. Well known and admired for its excellence: un pintor famoso.^[4]
3. (colloquial) Much talked of and remembered in a given setting, often ironically: ¿Dónde está ese famoso informe que nos prometieron?^[4]
4. (colloquial) Striking for its wit or oddity.^[20][21]
5. (obsolete) Visible and beyond doubt.^[20]

Related words

• fama
• afamado
• infame
• difamar
• Latin fāmōsus
• English famous

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 846
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fama
4. ^ a b c d e 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. famoso
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 283
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. famoso
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. famós
11. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. famosu
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. famoso
13. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. famoso
14. ^ 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. 830
15. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 353
16. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 719
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 410
18. ^ 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. 487
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. famoso
20. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. famoso
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. famoso