firme

Forms

firme m or f (masculine and feminine plural firmes, superlative firmísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish firme, inherited from Vulgar Latin firmis, a third-declension variant of classical Latin firmus (“firm, stable, strong”).^[2][3][1][4] Cornu, followed by the REW and García de Diego, explained the ending of the Spanish and Portuguese word from the Latin adverb firmē (“firmly”) instead.^[5][6] Keeping the initial /f/ is irregular in Spanish, but according to Wiktionary Corominas and Pascual reject a learned borrowing.^[1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese firme, Catalan ferm, Occitan ferm, French ferme, Italian fermo and Sardinian firmu;^[5][6][1] Old Aragonese had fierme, and it was borrowed as Basque bermu.^[5][6][1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *fermos and Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo-s (“holding”), from the root *dʰer- (“to hold”).^[7][1] De Vaan suggests that its ⟨i⟩ comes from ⟨e⟩ raised after the labial, and lists ferē, fortis, frēnum and frētus as related words.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where the word is an adverb: the Cid's men „firme prende(n) las posadas” “firmly take up their quarters” on the hill.^[8][2] The Cortes of Benavente (1202), the first hit known from an original, use it of acts that are to stay valid: „queremos ser firmes”, “we will that they be firm”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the physical sense, a stone that makes loose teeth firm, and the moral one, those who are bien firmes in the faith.^[9] The legal sense “valid, binding” crossed to the Americas: a contract of 1527 in Mexico is to „vala e sea firme”.^[10] In Cervantes tierra firme is the mainland as against an island, and Autoridades defines both senses of the phrase, solid ground and a continent.^[11][12]

The 19th-century dictionaries added the noun: in seamanship the highest point to which a ship can heel, and the military command ¡firmes!, first in Domínguez and in Gaspar y Roig.^[13][14] The Academy entered de firme and the stock-exchange en firme in 1869, and the noun for solid ground and for the gravel bed of a road in 1884.^[15][16][17] In Cuba firme is virgin land, in the Dominican Republic the top of a hill, and in Chile de firme means “without moving”.^{[3][18][19][20]} Tagalog borrowed the word as pirme.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the adverb firme in the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy).^[8][2]
• 1202 – firmes “valid” in the Cortes of Benavente.^[8]
• c. 1250 – the derivative firmeza.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the physical sense.^[9]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin firmus and stabilis.^[21]
• 1527 – the first record in the Americas, in a contract from Mexico.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines firme and tierra firme.^[12]
• 1846–1847 – Domínguez records the command ¡firmes! and the nautical noun.^[13]
• 1869 – the Academy enters de firme and en firme.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology and the road-building noun.^[16]
• 1917 – Alemany derives the word from Low Latin firmis.^[22]

Meanings

Adjective

1. firm, stable: that does not move or wobble: Sujeta la escalera para que quede firme.^[3][1]
2. Of a person or a resolve: steadfast, constant, not letting itself be overcome.^[3][1]
3. Definitive, no longer open to change: sentencia firme “final judgment”.^[23][1]

Noun

1. Solid ground on which foundations can be laid.^[3]
2. The bed of gravel or crushed stone that consolidates a road; the road surface.^[3][23]
3. (Cuba) Virgin land.^[3][18]
4. (military, in the plural) The position of attention, heels together and arms stiff at the sides.^[3]

Adverb

1. Firmly, with courage or with force.^[3]

Word family

• firmeza
• firmemente
• tierra firme
• de firme
• en firme

Related words

• firmar
• afirmar
• confirmar
• firmamento
• enfermo
• Latin firmus
• Portuguese firme

Usage notes

De firme means “hard, without stopping” or “solidly”, and en firme “definitively”, of a deal or a stock-exchange operation.^[3] Tierra firme is the mainland or solid ground.^[12][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. firme
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. firme
4. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 263
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. firmus
6. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. firmus
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. firmus
8. ^ 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. firme
9. ^ 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. firme
10. ^ 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. firme
11. ^ 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. 531
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 757
13. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 812
14. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 1014
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 361
16. ^ 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. 498
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. 1117
18. ^ 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. firme
19. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. firme
20. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 640
21. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 354
22. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 777
23. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. firme