igualdad

Forms

igualdad f (plural igualdades)^[1] Old Spanish wrote egualdat most often, beside igualdat, egualdad, eguallat and yguallat.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish egualdat, inherited from Latin aequālitās (“equality”).^[4][1][3][5] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of igual, and Wiktionary notes that it can be analysed as from Spanish igual + -dad.^[6][1] The Old Spanish noun began with /e/, like egual, the older form of the adjective, and the modern /i/ spread from the 13th century on.^[7][3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese igualdade, Galician igualdade and Catalan igualtat.^[8][3][9] French égalité was formed anew in the 15th century after égal, replacing Old French oelté, the inherited Old French form.^[10][1]

The Latin noun is formed from aequālis (“equal, even”) with the suffix -tās, and the adjective from aequus (“level, even, equal”).^[11][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) has a heading Del egualdat delos quadrelleros.^[12] In the Libro de Alexandre (c. 1240–1250) the king orders that the people of a city oviessen conplida egualdat “should have full equality”.^[12][2]

Semantic evolution

Medieval prose used the word for sameness of measure or quantity, for moderation (egualdat & mesura that prelates should keep on their visits), and in Alfonso X's astronomy for the two equinoxes.^[13] The Bocados de oro speak of a physician keeping the igualdat or balance of the body's humours.^[12]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as exact likeness in size, measure, weight or quality, and as the even proportion of the parts of a whole; it also recorded igualdad de ánimo “equanimity”.^[14] The Academy added a mathematical sense in 1884.^[15] The political sense, the principle that all citizens have the same rights and duties, was in the 2001 dictionary only in the phrase igualdad ante la ley “equality before the law”; the DLE now gives it as a sense of its own.^[16][4] The adjective igualitario (1914) imitates French égalitaire.^[6]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has egualdat.^[12]
• 1220–1250 – the date Corominas gives for the word.^[6]
• 1254–1260 – Alfonso X's astronomical works use egualdades for the equinoxes.^[13]
• 1492 – Nebrija gives igualdad as the Spanish for Latin aequalitas.^[17]
• 1572 – first record in the Americas, in Chile.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds the mathematical sense.^[15]
• 1914 – first record of the derivative igualitario.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. equality, sameness of one thing with another in nature, form, quality or quantity.^[4][1]
2. Even correspondence and proportion of the parts that make up a whole.^[4]
3. The principle that all citizens have the same rights and obligations: la igualdad ante la ley.^[4][19]
4. (mathematics) The equivalence of two quantities or expressions, or an expression stating it, written with the sign =.^[4][19]

Word family

• igualitario

Related words

• igual
• equidad
• Latin aequalitas
• Portuguese igualdade

Usage notes

Igualdad de ánimo means calm and steadiness in good and bad fortune alike.^[4][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. igualdad
3. ^ a b c d García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 224
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. igualdad
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. aequalitas
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. igual
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 438
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. igualdade
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. igualtat
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. égalité
11. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. igualdad
13. ^ 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. igualdad
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. igualdad
15. ^ 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. 584
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. igualdad
17. ^ 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. igualdad
18. ^ 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. igualdad
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. igualdad