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hondo

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word hondo

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1220–1250 in the form fondo More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Old Spanish fondo
Ultimate origin
Latin fundus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈondo/, [ˈõn̪.d̪o][1]

Forms

hondo (feminine honda, masculine plural hondos, feminine plural hondas, superlative hondísimo)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fondo (“deep”), the older form with ⟨f⟩, recorded from 1220–1250.[2][3][1] Corominas thinks that the Old Spanish adjective was probably taken from the dialectal perfondo (second half of the 13th century), from Latin profundus (“deep”): the ⟨per-⟩ was dropped because it was taken for the intensive prefix found in old words like perfeo and in peripuesto.[2] Gómez de Silva, Bénaben and DICCA-XV follow this explanation.[4][5][6] Wiktionary, García de Diego and the REW derive the adjective directly from the noun fundus (“bottom”), which took on an adjectival sense.[1][7][8] Wiktionary calls the derivation from the longer form uncertain.[1][7][8]

The Latin adjective is itself formed from this noun.[9] De Vaan traces the noun to a Proto-Indo-European word for “bottom”, with a metathesis in Italo-Celtic.[9] Wiktionary gives it as Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”).[9][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom”) and English bottom.[9][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese fundo, Galician fondo, Italian fondo, French fond and Romanian fund; the Italian and Portuguese words are also adjectives meaning “deep”.[8][7][10] The ⟨h⟩ stands for the aspiration into which Latin ⟨f-⟩ turned; it is still heard in the popular jondo of Andalusia and Asturias and in parts of Mexico.[7][11] When the noun fondo came back into use in the 16th century under Latin influence, it took the form with ⟨f-⟩, which kept it apart from the adjective.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates fondo to 1220–1250.[2] Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) speaks of a mine en una cueua muy fonda “in a very deep cave”, and his Judizios (1254) of oios fondos “sunken eyes”.[12]

Semantic evolution

The adverb is as old as the adjective: the Estoria de España (1270–1284) tells how the emperor had a man killed and buried muy fondo “very deep”.[12] Nebrija has entrar hondo la herida “the wound goes in deep”.[6] Autoridades records three senses: deep, like a well or the sea; the lower part of a terrain (lo hondo del valle); and, metaphorically, difficult, subtle and profound.[13] The Academy marked the noun “bottom of something hollow” as obsolete in 1817, but no longer in 1869.[14][15] The DLE adds the sense “intense”, of feelings.[3]

In the Americas the word appears in Puerto Rico in 1519, in pozos acrescentados de ondo “wells made deeper”.[16] In the Dominican Republic and Ecuador un hondo is a deep pool in a river, good for bathing, and in Cuba el río viene hondo means that the river is rising.[17][18]

Timeline

  • 1220–1250 – the first record of Old Spanish fondo.[2]
  • second half of the 13th century – the dialectal perfondo.[2]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has una cueua muy fonda.[12]
  • 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España uses fondo as an adverb.[12]
  • 1335 – the learned doublet profundo.[2]
  • 1490 – the derivative hondura.[2]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija's entrar hondo la herida.[6]
  • 1519 – the first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico.[16]
  • 1591 – Percyvall glosses hondo as English “deepe” and Latin profundus.[19]
  • 1817 – the Academy marks the noun as obsolete.[14]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. deep: having depth: Este pozo es muy hondo.[3][1]
  2. Of a part of a terrain: lower than everything around it.[3]
  3. profound, lofty or hidden.[3][1]
  4. Of a feeling: intense, extreme: Sintió una honda tristeza.[3][20]

Noun

  1. The bottom of something hollow or concave.[3]
  2. (Dominican Republic, Ecuador) A deep pool in a river, good for swimming.[17][21]

Adverb

  1. deeply, far down: Cavaron hondo para plantar el árbol.[1][12]

Word family

  • ahondar
  • hondón
  • hondura
  • hondonada

Usage notes

Lo hondo is the deepest part of something, and the DLE also records cante hondo.[3][20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hondo
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. hondo
  4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 356
  5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. hondo
  6. ^ a b c 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. hondo
  7. ^ a b c d García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2978
  8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1624
  11. ^ Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (2015), Obras completas, vol. 12: 1936–1940 III, ed. Miguel D. Mena, Santo Domingo: Ministerio de Cultura, p. 45
  12. ^ 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. hondo
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 171
  14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 475
  15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 417
  16. ^ 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. fondo
  17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
  18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 468
  19. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 153
  20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hondo
  21. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. hondo
Cite this entry

“Hondo.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/hondo. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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