festivo

Forms

festivo (feminine festiva, masculine plural festivos, feminine plural festivas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fēstīvus (“festal; jolly, fine”), first recorded in 1490 in Palencia's vocabulary.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is formed from fēstus (“of a feast, festal”) with the suffix -īvus.^[5][1] The neuter plural of that adjective became the Late Latin noun from which the semi-learned fiesta descends, and it is related to fēria (“holiday”).^[2][3]

Old Spanish used instead the adjective festival, in Berceo and the Cancionero de Baena, which lasted into the Golden Age and which Autoridades already considered antiquated; the modern noun festival is a recent, unrelated anglicism.^[2][3] Portuguese festivo (from 1547) and Catalan festiu are also from the Latin adjective.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas gives Palencia's vocabulary of 1490 as the first record, without a quotation.^[2][3] In the Quijote it is said of a feast day, para alegrar aquel festiuo dia of St John, and of a speech that should come out sonoro, y festiuo.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Latin festivus meant “festal” and, colloquially, “excellent, jolly, delightful”; in Medieval Latin it was used of holidays.^[5][9] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as belonging to a feast and to pleasure.^[10] Autoridades put the sense “witty, sharp” first, then “cheerful, joyful”, and recorded días festivos for days devoted to a celebration.^[11] The Academy's definitions of 1843 to 1899 were “witty”, “cheerful” and “solemn, worthy of being celebrated”.^[12][13]

The DLE now puts first the sense “of a feast”, then the holiday, as opposed to a working day, and only then “cheerful” and “witty”.^[4] As a noun, un festivo is a holiday.^[4][14] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1575 in Mexico (música muy festiva), and a día festivo is attested in Puebla in 1617.^[15]

Timeline

• 1490 – first record, in Palencia's vocabulary.^[2][3]
• 1575 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• 1605–1615 – the Quijote uses it for a feast day and for a cheerful speech.^[8]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as belonging to a feast and to pleasure.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives “witty”, “cheerful” and días festivos.^[11]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros equates día festivo with feriado.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin festivus.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to a fiesta or celebration; festive: Las calles tenían un aire festivo.^[4][1]
2. Of a day or period: officially set aside for rest because of a feast, as opposed to laborable (of a day, also as a noun).^[4]
3. Cheerful, merry, joyful.^[4][11]
4. Witty, funny (chistoso), humorous: Escribía versos festivos para los amigos.^[4][14]

Noun

1. A public holiday, a day off work: Este mes hay dos festivos.^[1][14]

Related words

• fiesta
• festividad
• festejar
• festival
• Latin fēstus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 893
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fiesta
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. festivo
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. festivo
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. festiu
8. ^ 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. 526
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ 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. 839
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 740
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 341
13. ^ 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. 493
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. festivo
15. ^ a b 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. festivo
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 157