guisa

Forms

guisa f (plural guisas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Proto-Germanic *wīsō (“way, manner”), which Corominas thinks Vulgar Latin probably took from West Germanic, so that all the Western Romance languages inherited it.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary derives it more narrowly from Gothic *𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃𐌰 (*weisa, “way, manner”).^[1] Corominas notes that the word is not in the known Gothic vocabulary, though it may be missing by chance or have belonged to the Visigothic dialect, while it is recorded in all the West Germanic languages from their oldest stages: German Weise, English wise “manner”.^[2][3] He rejects the view that it is an old Gallicism in Spanish, citing Jud's remark that the original senses of guisar show a native root.^[2]

The same word is Portuguese guisa, Catalan guisa, Old Occitan guisa and Italian guisa.^[5][6] The Germanic noun belongs with *wīsaz (“wise”) and goes back to the root *weyd- (“to see, know”).^[1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) is the first record: Llegó Martín Antolínez a guisa de menbrado “Martín Antolínez came up like a prudent man”.^[9][2][3] In the poem it means “manner” (de aquesta guisa, en todas guisas “in every way”), “liking” in a mi guisa “to my liking”, and “nature, condition” in bestias de fiera guisa “wild beasts”;^[10] a guisa de with a noun means “like, as befits”, as in a guisa de varón “like a man”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the noun was very common and formed adverbs of manner, such as fieraguisa “cruelly” and a fea guisa “in an ugly way”.^[11][10] The Alfonsine prose has it for “manner”, “will, liking” and “kind, quality”.^[12] It also meant rank: Covarrubias in 1611 quoted laws on persons de gran guisa, o de menor guisa, and Autoridades quoted the Fuero Juzgo and the Amadís for “quality and estate”.^[13][14] Salvá recorded de alta guisa “of noble blood” and de mayor o menor guisa “noble or plebeian”.^[15]

Covarrubias already called it an old word, Autoridades “a word of the past”, and Terreros noted that it was used only familiarly or in jest.^[13][14][16] The Academy's dictionaries of 1817 and 1843 marked all its senses as old, including a la guisa, a term of horsemanship equal to a la brida.^[17][18] Today it survives in formal and literary use, mainly in the phrases a guisa de “by way of, as” and de esta guisa “in this way”.^[19][20] In Colombia guisa is a derogatory word for a maid, and in Peru it means mood or disposition.^[21]

Its derivatives are among the oldest in the language: guisar “to prepare” is in the Cid and means “to cook” from 1490, guisado “just, fitting” is recorded from the mid-13th century and “stew” from the 16th, and aguisar and desaguisado date from the 13th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1028 – DEMel lists a record in a Navarrese document.^[22]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has a guisa de menbrado.^[9][2]
• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has en nulla guisa “in no way”.^[9]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first record in a contemporary copy, has de guisa que “so that”.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – the Alfonsine Lapidario has obrando desta guisa “working in this way”.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija renders it with Latin modus.^[23][24]
• 1535 – the first record from the Americas, en esta guisa, in Tierra Firme.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it an old Spanish word.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy marks its senses as old.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal) manner, way; likeness of something: Nos habló de tal guisa que nadie protestó.^[4][1][20]
2. (obsolete) Will, liking, whim.^[4][12]
3. (obsolete) Kind, quality; rank.^[4][12]
4. (Colombia, derogatory) A maid, a woman in domestic service.^[21]
5. (Peru) Mood, disposition to do something.^[21]
6. a guisa de: by way of, as: Llevaba una cuerda a guisa de bastón.^[19][1]

Word family

• guisar
• aguisar
• desaguisado

Related words

• German Weise
• English wise

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 274
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. guisa
4. ^ a b c d 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. guisa
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. wisa
6. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 401
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīsō
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 340
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. guisa
10. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 305
11. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. guisa
12. ^ 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. guisa
13. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 952
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 97
15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 570
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 251
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 456
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 376
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. guisa
20. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. guisa
21. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. guisa
22. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. guisa
23. ^ 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. guisa
24. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 357
25. ^ 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. guisa