gentil

Forms

gentil m or f (masculine and feminine plural gentiles)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin gentīlis (“of the same family or clan; of a nation; pagan”), first recorded in the sense “pagan” in the Glosas Silenses of the late 10th century.^[2][3][4][1] Corominas traces the senses to the Latin ones: “of a family”, hence “of good lineage, noble”, and “of a nation, especially a foreign one”, hence “not Jewish, pagan”.^[2] The Christian Latin use for the nations other than Israel is a semantic loan from Biblical Hebrew גּוֹי (gōy, “nation”).^[5][1]

The same Latin word is French gentil, Italian gentile and Portuguese gentil.^[6][1] Nascentes notes that the Portuguese word passed from “of noble birth” to “beautiful”, a sense found only in the Romance languages.^[7][6]

This adjective is formed from Latin gēns (“clan, race, nation”) + -īlis.^[8][1] De Vaan reconstructs gēns as Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁-ti-, from the root *ǵenh₁- (“to beget”).^[9][1] Wiktionary compares Sanskrit जाति (jāti) and kind.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, have the word in the sense “pagan”.^[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the sense “noble” in Castiella la gentil “noble Castile”.^[2][10][11]

Semantic evolution

In 13th-century prose the plural gentiles “pagans” is the commonest use, as in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[12][10] The sense “noble” passed to “handsome, graceful”: Juan Ruiz writes of a dueña gentil, and Medieval Latin already had the senses “noble” and “refined, handsome”.^[13][14] In 1515 a chronicler of Tierra Firme praises muy gentiles pieças of gold.^[15]

Autoridades in 1726 separates the noun “idolater” from the adjective “elegant, well-built”, “spirited” and “excellent”, and quotes Espinel's joke: calling a lady gentil did not mean she was not a Christian.^[16] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 adds the ironic “notable”, as in gentil desvergüenza “a fine piece of impudence”, and marks “national” and “noble” as old.^[17] The current dictionary also gives “kind, courteous”, and in Peru the word names the peoples before the Incas; in the Andes it also names the spirits of the dead.^[4][18]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses have the word in the sense “pagan”.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – Castiella la gentil in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][10]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo has los gentiles, the first hit not known from a later copy.^[10]
• early 15th century – first record of gentileza, in the Cancionero de Baena.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin gentilis.^[19]
• 1515 – first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[15]
• 1726 – Autoridades separates the noun “idolater” from the adjective “elegant”.^[16]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary records the ironic “notable”.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Among Jews: of another religion, gentile; also as a noun.^[4][1]
2. Pagan, heathen; also as a noun.^[4][20]
3. Handsome, graceful, charming: un gentil caballero.^[4][20]
4. (ironic) Notable, remarkable: ¡Gentil disparate!^[4]
5. kind, courteous.^[4][1]
6. (Peru) Of the peoples who lived in the land before the Incas; also as a noun.^[4]
7. (obsolete) Of the nations; noble.^[4]

Noun

1. A gentile, a non-Jew; a pagan.^[4][1]
2. (Peru, northern Chile, rural) Among indigenous people, the spirit of the dead.^[18]

Word family

• gentileza
• gentilmente
• gentilidad
• gentilismo
• gentilhombre

Related words

• gente
• gentío
• gentilicio
• Latin gēns
• French gentil
• Italian gentile

Usage notes

Halcón gentil is a falcon name, and gentil hombre (now gentilhombre) named a gentleman in the service of the king or a great house.^[4][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 144
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gente
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. gentil
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. gentil
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. gentil
11. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 300
12. ^ 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. gentil
13. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 236
14. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
15. ^ 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. gentil
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 44
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 364
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. gentil
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 359
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. gentil