fin

Forms

fin m or (archaic) f (plural fines)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fin, inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary, limit; end”), by a semi-learned route.^[2][3][1] García de Diego regards the Castilian word as learned or as a form of the neighbouring areas, Aragon, La Rioja and Navarre.^[4] Latin fīnis was occasionally feminine, and the feminine gender was frequent in Old Spanish.^[2]

The same word is Portuguese fim, Catalan fi, French fin and Italian fine.^[5][4] In Portuguese too the feminine prevailed through the Middle Ages, until the second half of the 16th century.^[6]

The origin of fīnis is disputed.^[7] Walde and Hofmann reconstruct a form meaning “driven in”, for a boundary marker such as a stone or a pole, related to fīgō (“to fix, drive in”), which the OLD also suggests; de Vaan mentions a root Proto-Indo-European *bʰiH- (“to hit, strike”) as another possibility.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) is the first record, in the old sense “boundary”: Alcobiella „que de Castiella fin es ya” “which is now the border of Castile”.^[9][3] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), the first record in a contemporary copy, uses it for the end of life: „depues de mi fin” “after my death”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word meant “end” and “boundary”, and also “outcome”;^[10] aver buena fin was “to succeed” or “to die well”, poner fin “to stop” and sin fin “for ever”.^[11] Alfonso X's prose has the senses “end”, “boundary”, “purpose” and “death”.^[12]

The feminine gender appears in Berceo, the Libro de Apolonio, the Conde Lucanor and the Cancionero de Baena.^[2] Alfonso de Palencia (1490) already uses the masculine, which is dominant in Cervantes, although the Quijote still has „la fin del mundo”; popular speech in several areas still says para la buena fin.^[2] Autoridades gave the three senses “end”, “limit” and “purpose”.^[13] The DLE now marks the word as masculine, formerly also used as feminine.^[14]

Modern compounds include fin de semana “weekend” and fin de fiesta “closing act of a show”.^[14] In much of Latin America al fin de cuentas means “after all, in short”.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses fin for “boundary”.^[9][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses mi fin for “my death”.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses la fin for “the end” and for a boundary.^[12]
• 1276–1279 – the sense “purpose” in Alfonso X's Libro de las formas e de las imágenes.^[12]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia uses the word as masculine.^[2]
• 1605 – the Quijote still has the feminine la fin del mundo.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. end: the point at which something stops or is completed: Llegamos al fin del camino.^[14][1]
2. (archaic) A boundary or limit.^[14][15]
3. purpose, aim: the goal for which something is done.^[14][1]

Word family

• final
• finalidad
• finalizar
• finar
• finado
• finiquito
• sinfín

Related words

• finir
• fino
• afín
• confín
• definir
• finito
• infinito
• finanza
• Latin fīnis
• Portuguese fim

Usage notes

Phrases include al fin, en fin, a fin de and por fin.^[16][14] The feminine survives only in archaic or popular use, as in la buena fin.^[2][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 900
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fin
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 2805
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. finis
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1568
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. fīnis
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fīnis
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fin
10. ^ 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. fin
11. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. s.v. fin
12. ^ a b c 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. fin
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 754
14. ^ a b c d e f 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. fin
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fin
16. ^ 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. s.v. fin