infidelidad

Forms

infidelidad f (plural infidelidades)^[1] Late medieval texts write infidelidat;^[2] Heredia's Aragonese translations and a translation of Jacques de Vitry have the form infieldat.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin infidelitās (“faithlessness, inconstancy”).^[3][4][5] Corominas lists it under the family of fe, after infiel.^[6]

The same Latin word is Portuguese infidelidade, Catalan infidelitat, French infidélité and Italian infedeltà.^[7][8][1][9]

The Latin noun, used by Cicero and Caesar, is formed from infidēlis (“unfaithful”) with -tās;^[10][1] The adjective is the negative of fidēlis (“faithful”), from fidēs (“faith, trust”).^[10][1] In Medieval Latin it meant disloyalty, breach of faith, treason, the breaking of an oath and religious unbelief.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pero López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio (c. 1385) uses it of a man born a faithful Christian who later fell en la infidelidat, that is, into unbelief.^[2][12] A chronicle of the same years, drawn from Lucas de Tuy, uses it for a revolt of disloyalty against the king.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Both senses, disloyalty and the lack of the true faith, were present from the start.^[2] Nebrija's Latin dictionary of 1492 still rendered Latin infidelitas with the older no fialdad.^[4] In the Americas missionaries used it for the pagan past of the Indians: in Yucatán in 1562 an Indian had anointed the idols en tiempo de su infidelidad.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave in 1734 the breaking of faith, the denial or ignorance of the true faith, and the whole body of unbelievers.^[5] The collective sense is now obsolete, and the commonest use is unfaithfulness in a couple.^[3][14]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – infidelidat in López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio.^[2][12]
• 1492 – Nebrija renders Latin infidelitas with no fialdad.^[4]
• 1562 – first record from the Americas, in Yucatán, for the pagan past of the Indians.^[13]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives three senses.^[5]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. infidelitas”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. infidelity, lack of faithfulness (fidelidad), especially to one's partner; an unfaithful act: Nunca le perdonó aquella infidelidad.^[3][16][1]
2. Lack of the Catholic faith, unbelief.^[3]
3. (obsolete) The body of unbelievers who do not know or accept the faith held to be true.^[3][16]

Related words

• infiel
• fidelidad
• fe
• Latin fidēs

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. infidelidad
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. infidelidad
4. ^ 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. infidelidad
5. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 264
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 877
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. infidelitat
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. infidelidade
9. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 346
10. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. infidelitas
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. infidelidad
13. ^ 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. infidelidad
14. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. infidelidad
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 595
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. infidelidad