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imperio

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word imperio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1220–1250 Gonzalo de Berceo More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Latin imperium
Ultimate origin
Latin parō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin parō
Spanish parar
English pare
Latin imperō
Latin imperium
French empire
Spanish imperio
From the same root
Latin apparō ← parō
Latin parābilis ← parō
Latin parātus ← parō
Latin praeparō ← parō
Latin reparō ← parō
Latin sēparō ← parō
Spanish parada ← parō
Latin imperābiliter ← imperō
Latin imperātor ← imperō
Latin imperātrīx ← imperō
Latin imperitō ← imperō
Latin imperiālis ← imperium
Latin imperiōsus ← imperium

Pronunciation

  • /imˈpeɾjo/, [ĩmˈpe.ɾjo][1]

Forms

imperio m (plural imperios)[1] Old Spanish also wrote enperio, emperio, inperio and ynperio.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imperium (“command; supreme power; empire”), a learned word first recorded in Berceo.[3][4][5][1] The inherited word of the same family is emperador, a semi-learned form of Latin imperātor (“one who commands; general; emperor”), recorded since 1107.[3][4]

The Latin noun is derived from imperō (“to command”) with the suffix -ium, and the verb is formed from in- and parō (“to prepare, provide”).[6][7][1] De Vaan lists both among the derivatives of that verb.[8] The same Latin word gave Portuguese império, Catalan imperi, French empire and Italian impero.[1][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo (1236–1246, in an 18th-century copy) uses it for dominion and power, calling Christ Señor de grant imperio “Lord of great dominion”.[11][3] In the Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240, in a 14th-century copy) it is a ruler's realm: avn si ganase el imperio de Françia “even if he won the empire of France”.[11]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the main senses: command, the dignity of an emperor, the time of an emperor's rule and the lands subject to him.[12] The legal phrases mero imperio and mixto imperio named the criminal and civil jurisdiction of the sovereign and his delegates; in the Americas mero misto ynpero is recorded in 1527.[13][14]

Autoridades (1734) gives the command or the act of commanding, the dignity of emperor and the states subject to him.[15] In the 19th century the Academy added a linen cloth that came from the Empire, that is Germany, and the sense “haughtiness, pride”, and extended the word to any large power whose ruler is not called emperor.[16][17] The DLE adds the hegemonic power in international relations, the Empire style of Napoleon's time, and in the army the officers' mess fund.[5] In El Salvador, Bolivia and Uruguay el imperio is colloquially the United States.[18]

Timeline

  • 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.[4][3]
  • c. 1240 – the Libro de Apolonio speaks of el imperio de Françia.[11]
  • 1256–1300 – Alfonso X's laws use it for command, imperial dignity and the emperor's lands.[12]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin imperium and dominatus.[19]
  • 1527 – the earliest record from the Americas, in Nicaragua, in the phrase mero misto ynpero.[14]
  • 1734 – Autoridades defines command, imperial dignity and the emperor's states.[15]
  • 1817 – the Academy records the cloth called imperio.[16]
  • 1869 – the Academy adds “haughtiness” and any great power.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of commanding with authority; rule: el imperio de la ley.[5][1]
  2. The dignity of an emperor.[5]
  3. An empire: a state ruled by an emperor, its political organisation and the period it lasts: Aquello ocurrió en tiempos del Imperio romano.[5][1]
  4. A group of states or territories subject to another.[5]
  5. A hegemonic power and its zone of influence; supremacy in any field.[5]
  6. An air of authority; haughtiness.[5][1]
  7. The Empire style in decoration and fashion, from the time of Napoleon.[5][20]
  8. (military) The fund kept by the officers of a unit for their board and lodging.[5]
  9. (El Salvador, Bolivia, Uruguay; colloquial, derogatory) The United States.[18]
  • emperador
  • imperial
  • imperialismo
  • imperialista
  • imperioso
  • imperar
  • Latin imperium

Usage notes

Valer un imperio is said colloquially of someone or something of great worth.[5][21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. imperio
  3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 444
  4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. imperar
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. imperio
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. imperium
  7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. imperō
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. parō
  9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. imperi
  10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. empire
  11. ^ 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. imperio
  12. ^ 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. imperio
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 400
  14. ^ 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. emperio
  15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 224
  16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 485
  17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 426
  18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. imperio
  19. ^ 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. imperio
  20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. imperio
  21. ^ 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. 538

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Imperio.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/imperio. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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