hechizo

Forms

hechizo m (plural hechizos)^[1] As an adjective it has the feminine hechiza and the plurals hechizos, hechizas.^[1] Old Spanish wrote it fechizo, plural fechizos, also ffechizos.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fechizo, inherited from Latin factīcius (“made by art, artificial”).^[1][4][5] The Latin adjective is formed from factus (“made”), the past participle of faciō (“to make, do”), with the suffix -īcius.^[1][6] The DCECH and the BDELC treat the word in the family of hacer and hecho: the adjective meant “artificial, false”, and used as a noun it came to name the superstitious devices of sorcerers.^[7][8] For the noun the Academy's dictionaries of 1884 and 1899 gave the etymon Latin fascinum (“spell, witchcraft”) instead, which the DLE has since dropped.^[9][10][4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese feitiço, Galician feitizo, Asturian fechizu, Old French faitis (“pretty”), Old Occitan fachitz and Sardinian fattittu (“rotten (of fruit)”).^[11][1][12] Portuguese went through the same change of sense, from an adjective “artificial, false” to a noun “sorcery, amulet”.^[7][13] Bénaben takes the Spanish word as a loan from that Portuguese word, but the DCECH, the DLE and Wiktionary make it a native Spanish word.^{[14][7][4][1]}

From the Portuguese noun came French fétiche (1605), which in turn gave fetiche, first recorded in 1765–83.^[8][5] Spanish hechizar in turn gave Catalan encisar (“to bewitch”).^[11][15] The learned doublet is facticio.^[15][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel's earliest record is the Fuero de Plasencia, dated 1221 in its source (with copies of 1290 and 1297), which speaks of an alcalde hechizo and a juez hechizo.^[2] In Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275) the adjective describes man-made gods: njn aorassen ydolos njn dioses fechizos “nor worship idols nor made gods”.^[3] The noun is already in the Lapidario (1250–1279?), which says that a stone protects its bearer from necromancy ni fechizos ningunos quel fagan “nor any spells that may be cast on him”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija glossed the adjective hechiza “made thing” with Latin facticius and the plural noun hechizos with veneficium “sorcery, poisoning”.^[7] The adjective went on being used for things made by hand or made to imitate: José de Acosta wrote of escaleras hechizas about 1590, Quevedo of pasteles hechizos, and in 1842 the Argentine Sarmiento called a bad imitation un paquete hechizo.^[7] In 1513 a document from Tierra Firme orders crossbows to be made fechizas.^[16]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines the noun as a spell or harm done to someone by magic, figuratively a loving attraction that draws the affections, and a pastime that delights.^[17] The Academy's 19th-century editions list the adjective senses “artificial, feigned”, “detachable, false” and “made according to rule and art”, with the obsolete “counterfeit” and “well suited”.^[9][4] Alemany (1917) records Chilean hechizo for things made by hand rather than by machine, and for goods made in the country rather than imported.^[18] Today the adjective means “handmade” in El Salvador and Mexico, and “imitated, fake” or “improvised” in much of Spanish America.^[4][19][20]

Timeline

• 1221 – the Fuero de Plasencia has alcalde hechizo and juez hechizo (DEMel's earliest record).^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the noun fechizos “spells”.^[3]
• 1251 – the derivative fechizera “sorceress” in the Calila e Dimna.^[7]
• 1272–1275 – the General estoria speaks of dioses fechizos “man-made gods”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records the adjective and the noun; the DCECH and the BDELC date both from him.^[7][8]
• 1513 – first record in the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[16]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the noun as a spell done by magic or sorcery.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy splits the noun and the adjective into two entries.^[9]
• 1917 – Alemany records the Chilean sense “handmade, made in the country”.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spell: a practice used by sorcerers (hechiceros) to gain their ends: La bruja rompió el hechizo al amanecer.^[4][1]
2. An object used in such practices.^[4]
3. A person or thing that enchants or captivates; charm.^[4][21]
4. (Honduras) A wrought-iron ornament or support of a door or window.^[19]

Adjective

1. artificial, feigned, fake.^[4][1]
2. Not natural; false, detachable (postizo).^[4]
3. Made according to rule and art.^[4]
4. (El Salvador, Mexico) Of a product: handmade.^[4][20]
5. (Latin America) Imitated or counterfeit; made in an improvised way, not by the industrial process.^[19]
6. (obsolete) Counterfeit, forged; well suited, apt.^[4][1]

Word family

• hechicero
• hechizar
• hechicería

Related words

• hecho
• hacer
• facticio
• fetiche
• Latin factīcius
• Portuguese feitiço

Usage notes

The DLE enters the phrases clavo hechizo and herradura hechiza;^[4][16] dos herraduras hechizas are recorded in Lima in 1535.^[4][16]

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 Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. hechizo
3. ^ a b c d e 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. hechizo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. hechizo
5. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 279
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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, 299
8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hacer
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 558
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 519
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3132
12. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. fechizu
13. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1539
14. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. hechizo
15. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 2633
16. ^ a b c d 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. fechizo
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 134
18. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 876
19. ^ 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. hechizo
20. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. hechizo
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hechizo