hermandad

Forms

hermandad f (plural hermandades)^[1] Old Spanish forms include iermantad, germandat, ermandat, hermandat and hermandad.^[2] Berceo writes ermandad and hermandat, and the Latin charters of Cáceres and Usagre keep germanitate.^[3] Hermanía was also used, and survives in the south of Cuba.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin germānitās (“the relation between brothers and sisters”).^[1][5][6] The DLE and Moliner derive it simply from hermano “brother”, and Corominas lists it among that word's derivatives, with a Mozarabic document of 1185 as its first record.^[7][8][4]

The Latin noun is formed from germānus (“full brother”) with the suffix -tās.^[9][1] The Latin adjective meant “true, genuine”, and its use for kin is an abbreviation of frāter germānus (“brother of the same father and mother”).^[4] In Medieval Latin the noun also meant an assembly of brothers in the spiritual sense.^[10]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese irmandade and Catalan germandat, and Portuguese also had a closer form, 13th-century Old Galician-Portuguese germeydade.^[11][12][13] H. H. Post proposed a Germanic origin, from a word for “men of the army”, but Corominas, like Hasselrot, rejects it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a Mozarabic document of 1185.^[4][14] DEMel has an earlier iermantad in a Huesca document of 1152.^[2] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) uses it for the bond between towns: por razon de hermandat de otra villa “by reason of brotherhood with another town”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use the word for leagues and confederations of towns, for a group of companions, and for the bond between brothers.^[3][7] The Estoria de España uses la uuestra hermandad as a form of address to a bishop, as Medieval Latin used germanitas as a title of honour in letters between bishops.^[15][16] Nebrija gives ermandad for Latin fraternitas and germanitas, and ermandad con otros for confraternitas.^[17]

The Catholic Monarchs' Santa Hermandad, founded in 1476 and dissolved in 1835, policed the roads and punished crimes committed outside the towns.^[18][7] It is often named in the Quijote.^[19] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1734) gives the bond between brothers, the likeness between things, close friendship, and a congregation formed for works of piety.^[20] The Academy's 1817 edition marks the sense “league, alliance” as old.^[21] In Álava the districts of the province were called hermandades.^[22] Modern Spanish uses the word for religious brotherhoods, for professional or charitable associations, and for fraternity between peoples.^[18][7]

Timeline

• 1152 – iermantad in a Huesca document.^[2]
• 1185 – a Mozarabic document, Corominas's first record.^[4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has hermandat between towns.^[3]
• c. 1230 – Berceo writes ermandad in the Vida de San Millán (in an 18th-century copy).^[3]
• 1284 – the Estoria de España addresses a bishop as la uuestra hermandad.^[15]
• 1476 – the Santa Hermandad is founded.^[18]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives ermandad for fraternitas.^[17]
• 1528 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[23]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the religious brotherhood.^[20]
• 1835 – the Santa Hermandad is dissolved.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin germanitas.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The relationship between brothers and sisters, brotherhood.^[7][1]
2. Close friendship, a union of wills.^[7]
3. The correspondence or likeness between several things.^[7]
4. A religious confraternity (cofradía) or congregation of devotees: La hermandad sacó su paso en procesión.^[7][18]
5. A privilege by which a religious community makes one or more persons sharers in certain graces.^[7]
6. A fraternity, league or alliance between several people, and the people so allied.^[7]
7. An association of people for a common purpose: una hermandad de pescadores.^[7][18]

Related words

• hermano
• hermanar
• germanía
• Latin germānitās
• Portuguese irmandade

Usage notes

La Santa Hermandad was the tribunal, and the armed men under it, that kept order and punished crimes outside the towns, and an alcalde de la hermandad was one of its officers.^[7][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. hermandad
3. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. hermandad
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 347
5. ^ 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. 561
6. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 296
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. hermandad
8. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hermandad
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. germanidade
12. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. irmandade
13. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. germandat
14. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hermano
15. ^ a b 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. hermandad
16. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
17. ^ a b 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. hermandad
18. ^ a b c d e f Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. hermandad
19. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. s.v. hermandad
20. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 143
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 465
22. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 581
23. ^ 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. hermandad