guardián

Forms

guardián m (plural guardianes, feminine guardiana, feminine plural guardianas)^[1] The 13th-century Leonese charters write gardian and gardián;^[2] DEMel also records gordianes.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wardjan), the accusative of 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰 (wardja, “watchman”).^[3][1][4] Corominas explains it through a Latin form Vulgar Latin *wardianem that romanised the Gothic accusative, and calls it a native Germanism of Castile, beside guardia, which in Castilian he suspects is a 16th-century military Italianism.^[5][6]

The Gothic noun is attested only in the accusative plural, in Matthew 27:65, and was derived with the suffix -𐌾𐌰 (-ja) from Proto-Germanic *warda-, the stem also found in Old English weard and Old High German wart “watchman”.^[7][8] Feist reports that it is usually connected with Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to watch over”).^[7] The verb guardar has the same Germanic root.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel's earliest records are Leonese charters: gardian twice in the Carrizo collection in 1252 and gardián in a document of Zamora of 1253.^[2] The Old Spanish Textual Archive first has guardian in the fifth part of Alfonso X's General Estoria (1272).^[9] Corominas's first record is in Don Juan Manuel's Conde Lucanor, which the BDELC dates to about 1330.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the general sense of a keeper, the word was used for the superior of a Franciscan house: Covarrubias (1611) gives only this sense, and the first record from the Americas, Mexico City in 1525, is a guardián del monesterio de señor San Francisco.^[10][11] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the ship's officer in charge of the weapons and the hold, quoting the laws of the Indies.^[12] By 1884 the Academy also listed the nautical sense of a strong cable that secures small boats in a storm.^[13]

In Bolivia guardián is a uniformed police officer.^[14] In the Spanish of the United States it also means a person legally responsible for another, after the English word guardian.^[15]

Timeline

• 1252 – the Carrizo charters have the Leonese form gardian.^[2]
• 1272 – the fifth part of the General Estoria has guardian.^[9]
• c. 1330 – Don Juan Manuel's Conde Lucanor, Corominas's first record.^[5][6]
• 1525 – the first record from the Americas, for the guardian of the Franciscan house in Mexico City.^[11]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as the prelate of a Franciscan house.^[10]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has the keeper, the Franciscan superior and the ship's officer.^[12]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Gothic *wardjan.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A guardian or keeper: a person who guards something and looks after it.^[3][1]
2. In the Franciscan order, the superior of a convent.^[3][1]
3. (nautical) A petty officer or boatswain's mate in charge of the ship's boats and cables.^[3]
4. (nautical) A cable stronger than the ordinary ones, used to secure small boats when a storm is feared.^[3]
5. (Bolivia) A uniformed police officer.^[14]
6. (United States) A person legally responsible for another, a tutor.^[15]

Word family

• guardianía
• perro guardián

Related words

• guardar
• guardia
• guarda

Usage notes

The feminine is guardiana.^[3][1] Perro guardián is a watchdog.^[1][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. guardián
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. guardián
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. guardián
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 246
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. guardar
7. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 328
8. ^ Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. 422
9. ^ a b 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. guardian
10. ^ 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. 945
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. guardián
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 90
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. 546
14. ^ 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. guardián
15. ^ a b Moreno-Fernández, Francisco (2018), Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense (Informes del Observatorio 037-01/2018SP), Cambridge, Mass.: Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University, p. 63
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. guardián
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. guardián