fortuna

Forms

fortuna f (plural fortunas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fortūna (“fortune, luck, chance”), a derivative of fors (“chance, luck”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas calls it a learned word little used in the Middle Ages: it is missing from the Cid, Berceo, the Libro de Apolonio, Juan Ruiz and Don Juan Manuel, and becomes common only in the Golden Age.^[2]

The same Latin word was borrowed as French fortune about 1130, and is also Italian fortuna.^[5][2] Along the Mediterranean it came to mean “storm”, a euphemism for more alarming words: Italian has this sense too, as does Romanian furtună.^[6][2]

De Vaan derives this noun from Proto-Italic *forti- (“luck”) and, tentatively, from Proto-Indo-European *bhr-ti- (“bearing, case”), a noun of ferō (“to bear, carry”).^[7] Wiktionary takes the Latin noun as the feminine of an unattested adjective *fortūnus from the same root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the first records in the mid-13th century, in the Buenos proverbios, and then in the Zifar.^[2][3] The CDH has la fortuna de sý mesma ayuda a los osados “fortune itself helps the bold” in the Libro de los doce sabios of about 1237, but that text survives only in a copy of the late 14th or 15th century.^[8][9] The earliest witness of its own time is the astrological Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260), where the heavens have fortuna & infortuna “good and bad fortune”.^[8][10]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose fortuna is the goddess of the ancients, who dedicated a temple to her, and favourable luck in astrology.^[10] The sense “storm” is perhaps older in the texts: it is in the Aragonese Poema de Yúçuf of about 1300 and in several sources from 1400, and Aragonese also had fortunal “tempest”.^[2] Because this Mediterranean word keeps its f- and appears first in Aragonese texts, Corominas thinks Castilian imported it from the east, ultimately from Catalan.^[2][3] The nautical phrase correr fortuna “to weather a storm” is still in the DLE.^[4][11]

Covarrubias in 1611 defines fortuna as whatever happens by chance, good or bad, and tells how the pagans made her a goddess.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives “chance, fate”, “good luck” and “storm at sea or on land”.^[13] The sense “wealth, capital” is missing from the Academy's edition of 1884 and appears in that of 1899; in 1855 Baralt still objected to fortuna for “riches” as a Gallicism, and allowed only bienes de fortuna.^[14][15][16] Today the storm senses are marked as no longer used.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1237 – fortuna in the Libro de los doce sabios, in a copy of the late 14th or 15th century.^[8]
• c. 1250 – the Buenos proverbios, the first record for Corominas.^[2]
• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas, the earliest contemporary manuscript.^[8]
• 1256 – the derivative fortunado “fortunate”, in Aben Ragel's Libro conplido.^[2]
• c. 1300 – the sense “storm”, in the Aragonese Poema de Yúçuf.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – afortunado is first recorded.^[3]
• 1529 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as chance, good or bad.^[12]
• 1855 – Baralt condemns fortuna “riches” as a Gallicism.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary adds the sense “property, capital”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. fate; the chain of events thought of as due to chance: Quiso la fortuna que nos encontráramos allí.^[4][18]
2. A chance circumstance of a person or thing.^[4]
3. Good luck: Tuvimos la fortuna de llegar a tiempo.^[4][19][1]
4. Success or good reception: La novela no tuvo mucha fortuna.^[4][19]
5. wealth, property, capital; a large sum of money: Ese reloj le costó una fortuna.^[4][19][1]
6. (obsolete) A storm at sea or on land.^[4]
7. (obsolete) Misfortune, adversity.^[4]

Word family

• afortunado
• cazafortunas
• fortunoso
• infortunado

Related words

• Latin fortūna
• French fortune

Usage notes

Set phrases include por fortuna “luckily”, probar fortuna “to try one's luck” and bienes de fortuna “worldly goods”.^[4][1][16] The proverb la fortuna de la fea, la bonita la desea is recorded in Mexico.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 935
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fortuna
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. fortuna
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fortune
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. fortuna
9. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. fortuna
10. ^ 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. fortuna
11. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. fortuna
12. ^ 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. 860
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 784
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 506
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 469
16. ^ a b c Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 314
17. ^ 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. fortuna
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fortuna
19. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. fortuna
20. ^ García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. fortuna