Etymologically
Log in

fianza

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word fianza

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1095 a charter in Oelschläger's list, spelt fidanza More words from the 11th century
Ultimate origin
Latin fīdō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish fiar
Spanish fianza

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfjanθa/, [ˈfjãn̟.θa], /fiˈanθa/[1]

Forms

fianza f (plural fianzas)[1] Old Spanish wrote fidança or fidanza, the commonest forms in the early documents, beside fiança and fianza.[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish fiar (“to trust; to guarantee”) + -anza, in Old Spanish first fidança and later fiança.[3][1][4] Corominas notes that the noun presupposes a *fidantia, found in all the western Romance languages, in place of the classical Latin fidentia (“confidence”).[4] DICCA-XV derives it directly from that Vulgar Latin form.[5] The same formation is Portuguese fiança and Catalan fiança.[6][7]

The verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *fidāre, a change of conjugation of Latin fīdō (“to trust”).[8][1] The new form already existed in the 5th century, when the derivative fidamen appears in a Latin poem.[4] The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to trust”).[1]

Old Spanish kept the /f/ of the verb and its family because they were legal words, pronounced as the educated classes pronounced them;[4] Corominas stresses that this does not make them learned words.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds fidanza in a charter of 1095 and fiança in Berceo.[4][8] Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora (1246–1252) has the sense “pledge”: the sinner offers the Virgin por fianza that he will not fall back into his error.[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word also meant “trust, faith”, as in Alfonso X's Estoria de España (1270–1284).[11][10] The Academy marked the senses “confidence” and “landed property” as obsolete in 1817.[12] The legal senses grew around the guarantee: Autoridades defines the obligation one takes on so that another will pay or keep a contract, with Saint Teresa's sin pedirle fianzas as an example, and lists set phrases such as fianza carcelera, the guarantee that a released prisoner will come back to jail.[13] By 1869 the Academy also defined the pledge itself and the money handed over or deposited.[14]

Today it is chiefly the money or goods left as a guarantee: the deposit on a rental and the bail paid to free an accused person.[3][1] In El Salvador fianza is also a cigarette or cigar butt.[15] Tagalog and Cebuano borrowed the word as piyansa.[1]

Timeline

  • 1095 – fidanza in a charter.[4][8]
  • 1246–1252 – Berceo's Milagros (in an 18th-century copy) use fianza for a pledge.[9]
  • 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España uses fiança for “trust”.[11]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin vadimonium for fiança dela persona.[5]
  • 1529 – the first record from the Americas, in Nicaragua: con tanto que diese fianças.[16]
  • 1588 – the verb afianzar is first recorded.[4]
  • 1817 – the Academy marks the senses “confidence” and “landed property” as obsolete.[12]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology de fiar.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Money or goods handed over as a guarantee that an obligation will be met; a deposit, or (law) bail: El juez fijó una fianza de mil euros.[3][1]
  2. (law) suretyship, a security (aval) given for another's obligation.[3][1]
  3. A person who stands surety for another.[3]
  4. (obsolete) A sum of money assigned as income.[3]

Word family

  • afianzar
  • fiador
  • confianza
  • desafiar
  • Portuguese fiança

Usage notes

Fianza de arraigo is the guarantee asked of some litigants, especially foreigners suing a Spaniard, that they will stay in the case and answer for its outcome.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. fianza
  3. ^ 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. fianza
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 885
  5. ^ a b 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. fianza
  6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fiança
  7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. fiança
  8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fiar
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fianza
  10. ^ 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. 258
  11. ^ 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. fianza
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 415
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 742
  14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 358
  15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. fianza
  16. ^ 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. fianza
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 494
Cite this entry

“Fianza.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/fianza. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·