humildad

Forms

humildad f (plural humildades)^[1] Old Spanish wrote humildat, umildat, omildat and, closer to Latin, humilidat;^[2][3][1] Alfonso de Palencia still has both humildad and humilidad in 1490.^[2][3][1] A form with another suffix, omildança, is in the Cantar de mio Cid, and humilldança in Sem Tob.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish umildat, borrowed from Latin humilitās (“lowness; humility”), according to Corominas.^[2][4] The DLE also gives the Latin noun as the source, while Wiktionary treats the word as inherited.^[5][1] The Latin noun is formed from humilis (“low; humble”) with the suffix -tās.^[6][1]

The adjective humilde is later than the noun: it is an alteration (c. 1400) of Old Spanish humil, due partly to humildoso, a derivative of this noun, and partly to the pair rebel and rebelde.^[2][4] The same Latin noun gave Portuguese humildade and French humilité.^[7][1]

This adjective is derived from humus (“ground, earth”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces this noun to *dʰǵʰ-ōm (“earth”), the word that also gave Greek χθών (khthṓn) and Lithuanian žẽmė.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy): Jacob sends a gift to his brother Esau con grant humilidat “with great humility”.^[9][3] Corominas dates the word from Berceo's Loores de Nuestra Señora, where Mary receives the angel's message con muy grant umildat.^[2][4][9]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the word means the quality of being humble, submission (in the Fuero Juzgo) and a humble plea, as when the Moors of Valencia write to the king of Zaragoza con muy grandes humildades.^[10] Nebrija distinguishes the humility of lowness, Latin humilitas or abiectio, from that of bowing, supplicatio.^[11]

The Diccionario de Autoridades calls it the virtue that keeps us from pride and inclines us to submission before our superiors, and among Christians the inner virtue by which we know we are nothing before God; it also records lowness of birth or of any kind, and humildad de garabato for humility put on for some purpose.^[12] From 1817 to 1899 the Academy defined it as a Christian virtue; the DLE now defines it without the word cristiana, as knowing one's own limits and acting accordingly.^[13][14][5] In the Americas it is recorded from 1569, in Chile.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – humilidat in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[9][3]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo's Loores de Nuestra Señora.^[2][4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of a stone that makes its bearer content with humility.^[10]
• 1254 – the Fuero Juzgo uses it for submission.^[10]
• c. 1400 – the adjective humilde replaces humil.^[2][4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives two Latin equivalents for two senses.^[11]
• 1569 – first record from the Americas, in Chile.^[15]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records humildad de garabato.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, Latin humilitas.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. humility, modesty: the virtue of knowing one's own limits and weaknesses and acting accordingly: Aceptó el premio con humildad.^[5][1]
2. Lowliness of birth or of any other kind; humble condition: Nació en la humildad de un pueblo de pescadores.^[5][17]
3. submission, deference.^[5]

Related words

• humilde
• humillar
• humillación

Usage notes

Humildad de garabato is colloquial for false, affected humility.^[5][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 426
3. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. humildad
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. humilde
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. humildad
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. humildade
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. humildad
10. ^ a b c 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. humildad
11. ^ 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. humildad
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 190
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 480
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 540
15. ^ 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. humildad
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 580
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. humildad