genio

Forms

genio m (plural genios)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin genius (“tutelary deity of a person; inborn nature”), a learned word, like all its Spanish derivatives.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is derived from gigno (“to beget”).^[2][5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”), perhaps through the Old Latin verb geno, and compares *kunją (“kin”), probably an independent formation.^[6]

The sense “extraordinary intellect, person of genius” is a French innovation that spread to other languages in the 18th century, and Spanish took it from French génie by the early 19th century.^[2][3][7] Wiktionary also takes the sense “genie, jinn” from the French noun, which applied the Latin word to Arabic جِنّ (jinn); the Latin noun itself is not related to the Arabic one.^[1][6]

ingenio continues ingenium (“innate qualities”), with the popular Old Spanish form engeño from 1251.^[2][3] The old popular outcome of the Latin noun is Catalan giny “ingenuity; machine”.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is in Alfonso de la Torre's Visión deleitable (c. 1430–1440), of the two guardian spirits of the ancients: pusyeron estos dos ángeles ser dados al omne en su nasçimiento, e llamáronlos genios, e otros les dixeron lares “they held that these two angels were given to man at his birth, and called them genii, and others called them lares”.^[9] Corominas's first record, of 1490, also speaks of the deity of the ancients.^[2] Earlier hits in the CDH (en genio ageno, con fondas e con genyos) name a device or siege engine and are forms of engeño.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

In 1580 Fernando de Herrera defined it as “a specific virtue or particular property of each living being”.^[2][10] The Diccionario de Autoridades has the natural inclination or gift for a science or art, and the spirits that the ancients believed guided each person, one to good and one to evil, which it compares to angels and demons.^[10] In the Americas the sense “temperament” is recorded from 1678 in Buenos Aires.^[11]

Baralt (1855) still rejected hombre de genio and es un genio en la poesía as French.^[12] The Academy's 1869 dictionary already used the word for talents of the first order who create or invent extraordinary things, and in 1884 for the person gifted with this power, with the example of Calderón.^[13][14] Corominas dates the Academy's acceptance to 1884 and Spanish use to the early 19th century.^[2] Today the most common senses are temper, often bad temper (tener genio), and genius.^[4][15] The word was borrowed into Tagalog as henyo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1430–1440 – Alfonso de la Torre calls the guardian spirits of the ancients genios.^[9]
• c. 1440 – Rodríguez del Padrón marvels at la fuerça de su genio “the strength of his genius”.^[9]
• 1490 – Corominas's first date, of the deity of the ancients.^[2][3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin dictionary glosses Latin genius as “the god of each thing” and “the good angel”.^[16]
• 1580 – Fernando de Herrera uses it for the particular property of each living being.^[2][3]
• 1678 – first record in the Americas, from Buenos Aires.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records “natural inclination” and the genios of the ancients.^[10]
• 1843 – the Academy records the proverb genio y figura hasta la sepultura.^[17]
• 1855 – Baralt rejects the sense “genius” as a Gallicism.^[12]
• 1869 – the Academy records the sense “talent of the first order”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the person gifted with genius and gives the etymology.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. Temperament, the character by which someone usually acts: Tiene un genio tranquilo y paciente.^[4][1]
2. Mood, the cheerful or surly disposition of the moment: Se levantó de buen genio.^[4][15]
3. Bad temper, a difficult character: ¡Qué genio tiene tu hermano!^[4][1]
4. Genius, an extraordinary ability to create or invent new and admirable things.^[4]
5. A person gifted with such ability: Es un genio de la música.^[4][1]
6. The peculiar character of something: el genio de un pueblo.^[4][18]
7. Strength of character, spirit.^[4][15]
8. In pagan antiquity, each of certain lesser tutelary or hostile deities.^[4]
9. A genie: a fabulous being in human form in oriental tales: Frotó la lámpara y apareció un genio.^[4][1]
10. (art) An angel or figure placed beside a divinity or representing an allegory.^[4]

Word family

• genial
• genialidad
• geniudo
• geniazo
• congeniar

Related words

• ingenio
• ingeniar
• ingeniero
• Latin genius
• French génie

Usage notes

Corto de genio means “shy”.^[4] The proverb genio y figura hasta la sepultura says that one's character does not change.^[17][1] Without an adjective, tener genio usually means to have a bad temper.^[15]

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 i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 143
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. genio
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. genio
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. genius
6. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. genius
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. genio
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. giny
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. genio
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 43
11. ^ 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. genio
12. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 323
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 384
14. ^ 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. 529
15. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. genio
16. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. genio
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 364
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. genio