fuero

Forms

fuero m (plural fueros)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write foro, fuer and fur.^[2] In set phrases the word could lose its final vowel, as in fuer in the Libro de Alexandre and in the phrase a fuer de.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fuero, inherited from Latin forum (“open space; public square; public and legal life, the law courts”).^[3][4][5][1] Corominas notes that the word survived as a popular word, in its legal sense, only in Spanish and Portuguese foro, and to some degree in medieval Catalan and Occitan.^[3] The Catalan form is fur, first recorded c. 1150;^[6] Corominas leaves the vowel unexplained, perhaps from a plural form or from Old Aragonese fuoro.^[6] Old French fuer meant a rate or price, and survives in French à fur et à mesure.^[3][7]

The Latin noun comes from Proto-Italic *forom.^[1] De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Italic noun for a room or space near the door, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwor-o-, related to Sanskrit द्वार (dvā́ra, “door, gate”), Lithuanian dvãras (“estate, manor”) and Old Church Slavonic дворъ (dvorŭ, “court”).^[8][1] The root is *dʰwer- (“door”).^[1]

The learned doublet is foro, taken from Latin around 1600.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 931 in Oelschläger's list.^[3][4] The earliest hit in the CDH is in the Fuero de Madrid (dated before 1141–1235, in a copy of the first half of the 13th century), which has the form foro: a foro de Madrid “according to the law of Madrid”.^[9] Corominas gives the first Castilian sense as “what is just, the law”, as in Berceo's Milagros: qui tal faze tal prenda, fuero es e justicia “whoever does such a thing, let him receive the like: that is law and justice”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From “the law” the word came to mean a collection of laws, such as the Fuero Juzgo, and especially the code of rights of a town; in the abstract sense it came to mean the jurisdiction a person is subject to, as in fuero militar and fuero eclesiástico.^[3][10] The phrase a fuer de first meant “according to the fuero of a place”, as in a fuer de la tierra, and later “in the manner of”.^[3][4] Covarrubias described the fueros as the particular laws of a kingdom or province, and thought the Latin word passed to law because trials were held in public squares.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the fuero de la conciencia, the inner court of conscience.^[12] By 1884 the Academy listed a familiar sense, “arrogance”, used mostly in the plural.^[13] Today the DLE also lists the historical codes of Spanish territories such as Navarre and the Basque Country.^[5]

Timeline

• 931 – first record, in a charter.^[3][4]
• before 1141–1235 – the Fuero de Madrid has a foro de Madrid.^[9]
• 1172 – an Aragonese document has a fuer de “according to the law of”.^[3][4]
• 1254 – a text in the Alfonsine corpus speaks of libros de leyes & de fuero.^[10]
• c. 1290 – aforar “to grant fueros” first recorded.^[3]
• 1295 – desafuero first recorded.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it as “court”, Latin forum.^[14]
• 1525 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[15]
• c. 1600 – the learned doublet foro appears.^[3][4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias names the fueros de Aragón and the Fuero Juzgo.^[11]
• 1613 – a fuer de in the sense “in the manner of”.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives Latin forum “tribunal” as the etymon.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. jurisdiction, power: fuero eclesiástico, fuero militar.^[5][1]
2. In Spain, a historical code or set of rules granted to a particular territory: los fueros de Vizcaya.^[5][1]
3. A compilation of laws: Fuero Juzgo, Fuero Real.^[5][1]
4. (usually in the plural) Each of the privileges and exemptions granted to a community, province, town or person.^[5][1]
5. (usually in the plural) A privilege or moral right that belongs to an activity or principle by its nature: Hay que respetar los fueros de la ciencia.^[5]
6. (colloquial, usually in the plural) arrogance, presumption.^[5][13]
7. (law) The competence to which the parties are legally subject.^[5]
8. (law) A special jurisdiction that belongs to certain people by their office: fuero parlamentario.^[5]
9. (dated) A place where justice was administered.^[5][10]

Word family

• fuerista
• foral
• aforar
• desaforar
• desaforado
• desafuero
• aforo

Related words

• forero
• foro
• Latin forum

Usage notes

Fuero interno (also fuero interior and fuero de la conciencia) is a person's private conscience.^[5][12] The phrase a fuer de “as befits, in the manner of” keeps the shortened form.^[3][4]

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. fuero
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 971
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fuero
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. fuero
6. ^ a b Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 230
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. forum
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. fuero
10. ^ 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. fuero
11. ^ 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. 1, 871
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 807
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 512
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 355
15. ^ 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. fuero