honesto

Forms

honesto (feminine honesta, masculine plural honestos, feminine plural honestas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin honestus (“honourable, respected”), a learned word.^[2][3][1] The Latin adjective is formed from honōs (“honour”) with the adjective suffix -tus.^[1][4] De Vaan finds that its root can only continue a Proto-Indo-European *ǵhon- or *ghon-, but knows no further etymology.^[4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese honesto, and the Latin noun gave the popular honor, honra and honrar.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1220–1250.^[2] In Alfonso X's prose of about 1254 it already means “decent, proper”, of what is fitting in dealings with women.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias defines the honest man as composed, measured, virtuous and exemplary; of a price, lo honesto meant what was reasonable and fair, and the Inquisition called personas honestas the officials who witnessed the ratification of statements.^[8] Autoridades has the same range, adding that the adjective generally means “chaste”.^[9] The Academy's 1884 edition lists “decent”, “modest”, “reasonable, fair” and “honourable”, with estado honesto for the unmarried state of a woman.^[10]

In current use the sense “upright, incapable of cheating or deceiving” comes first, while “chaste, modest” is applied mainly to women and their behaviour.^[11][12] The negative deshonesto is recorded from 1444 and honestidad from 1438.^[2]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record.^[2]
• c. 1254 – “decent, proper” in Alfonso X's prose.^[6]
• 1438 – first record of honestidad.^[2]
• 1444 – first record of deshonesto.^[2]
• 1518 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, of honest clergy.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains it as “composed, virtuous” and, of a price, “reasonable”.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives its four senses and the etymology from Latin honestus.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. decent, seemly.^[3]
2. modest, chaste.^[3][11]
3. Reasonable, fair: un precio honesto.^[3][8]
4. honest, upright, honourable: Es un comerciante honesto que nunca engaña a nadie.^[3][1][11]

Word family

• honestamente
• deshonesto

Related words

• honestidad
• honor
• honra
• honrado
• cohonestar
• Latin honestus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. honor
3. ^ a b c d e 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. honesto
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1811
6. ^ 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. honesto
7. ^ 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. honesto
8. ^ 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. 990
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 172
10. ^ 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. 574
11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. honesto
12. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. honesto
13. ^ 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. honesto