fuerza

Forms

fuerza f (plural fuerzas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote forza and fuerça; the Leonese form forcia is in the Libro de Alexandre, and Asturian has fuercia.^[2] Old Castilian also had huerza, and popular speech in Navarre says juerza.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin fortia (“strength”).^[2][4][5][1] Old Spanish wrote fuerça.^[2][1] The Late Latin noun, found from the 2nd century in Commodian and Firmicus Maternus, replaced classical vīs in all the western Romance languages.^[2] It was the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong, brave”), taken from phrases such as fortia facta (“brave deeds”).^[1]

The same word is Portuguese força, Galician forza, Catalan força, French force and Italian forza.^[6][3][7] The Latin adjective, Old Latin forctis, is from Proto-Italic *forkti-; de Vaan considers two Proto-Indo-European sources, a root meaning “high” and Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to make firm”), without deciding between them.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is forza in a charter of 1115.^[2][4] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has fuerça, in the plural fuerças.^[2][9] The Fuero de Madrid punishes the man qui intrare cum forza “who enters by force”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose has the main senses of today: physical strength, the natural power of a thing (the stone that draws iron con muy grand fuerça), armed forces, and violence.^[10] Covarrubias in 1611 adds courage, the force of an argument, violence done against someone's will, with the proverb Do fuerça ay derecho se pierde “where there is force, right is lost”, and a fortified castle.^[11] The sense “fortress” is also the first in the Americas, in Tierra Firme in 1513.^[12] The Academy's 1884 edition still defines it as a strength able to lift a stone or a bar, as the Autoridades had done in 1726–1739.^[13][14] In physics it names a cause that changes the motion of a body.^[1]

Timeline

• 1115 – a charter has forza.^[2][4]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has fuerças.^[2][9]
• 1223 – the earliest text in the HSMS archive with the word.^[15]
• 1250–1280 – Alfonso X's prose uses it for strength, armed forces and violence.^[10]
• 1513 – the first record from the Americas, for forts in Tierra Firme.^[12]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb Do fuerça ay derecho se pierde.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. strength: the vigor and power to move or lift something heavy or resisting.^[5][1]
2. The use of physical or moral power: Hay que empujar con fuerza.^[5]
3. The capacity to bear a weight or resist a push.^[5]
4. The natural power and effectiveness of a thing.^[5]
5. Violence or coercion: forcing someone to agree or to act.^[5][10]
6. The main and strongest part of a whole, as of an army.^[5]
7. The most vigorous stage of something, as of youth.^[5]
8. A fortified, garrisoned place; its fortifications.^[5][12]
9. (chiefly in the plural) Armed forces, as in fuerza aérea “air force”.^[5][10]
10. (physics) A force.^[1]

Word family

• forzar
• forzoso
• forzudo
• esfuerzo
• refuerzo
• forcejear

Related words

• fuerte
• fortaleza
• Latin fortis
• Portuguese força
• Italian forza

Usage notes

Common phrases are a la fuerza and por fuerza “by force; necessarily”, a fuerza de “by dint of” and the proverb la unión hace la fuerza “unity is strength”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 972
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2888
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fuerte
5. ^ 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. fuerza
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *fortia
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1590
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 c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fuerza
10. ^ a b c d 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. fuerza
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. 873
12. ^ a b c 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. fuerza
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 513
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 808
15. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. fuerza