300s

Spanish words from Latin words first recorded in the 4th century

20 Spanish words inherited from a Latin word whose earliest known written record dates from the 4th century, earliest Latin record first.

estrada
325

from Latin strata

It is inherited from Old Spanish estrada, inherited from Late Latin strāta (“paved road”), short for via strāta (“paved way”). The participle strātus belongs to sternō (“to spread out, strew”). The…
sopa
325–403

from Latin suppa

It is inherited from Late Latin suppa (“piece of bread soaked in a liquid”), a word of Germanic origin. Corominas places the Germanic word in the family of Old High German sūfan (“to sip, to drink”)…
cuento
334–337

from Latin computus

It is inherited from Latin computus (“calculation, reckoning”), the noun of computō (“to calculate, count up”). Wiktionary gives the Vulgar Latin form as *contus or *comptus. The Latin verb is made…
cerrar
340–397

from Latin serro

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin serrāre (“to close, shut”), a variant of the Late Latin serāre (“to fasten with a bar”), derived from Latin sera (“bar, bolt”). The forms with -rr- come from a…
cobertura
345–412

from Latin coopertura

It is inherited from Late Latin coopertūra (“covering”), formed on coopertus (“covered”), the past participle of cooperīre (“to cover over”). Corominas lists it among the derivatives of cubrir…
huérfano
375–397

from Latin orphanus

It is inherited from Late Latin orphanus (“orphan”), from Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “orphan, fatherless”). Bénaben notes that the Church Latin word replaced the native Latin orbus (“bereft…
gato
380–420

from Latin cattus

The word for the cat is inherited from Old Spanish gato, inherited from Late Latin cattus (“cat”), a word of uncertain origin. The same word is Portuguese gato, Galician gato, Catalan gat, French…
legua
380–391

from Latin leuga

It is inherited from Late Latin leuga (“league”), also spelt leuca, a word of Celtic origin. The OLD defines it as a Gallic measure of distance equal to 1,500 Roman paces. Roman writers already…
abad
383–420

from Latin abbas

It is inherited from Old Spanish abad, inherited from Late Latin abbās (“abbot”), from Ancient Greek ἀββᾶ (abbâ), from Aramaic אבא (ʾabbā, “father”). The DLE names the Syriac word for “father” as…
camisa
383–420

from Latin camisia

It is inherited from Late Latin camisia (“shirt”), first found in Latin in the 4th century. Saint Jerome was one of the first to use it, writing that soldiers wore linen garments that they called by…
siesta
384

from Latin sexta

It is inherited from Old Spanish siesta, inherited from Latin sexta (“sixth”), short for hōra sexta (“the sixth hour”). The Romans counted the hours from sunrise, so the sixth hour fell at about…
dueño
387

from Latin domnus

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin domnus, the shortened form of Latin dominus (“master of a household, lord”). Wiktionary calls the short form Late Latin; the OLD finds it written with the stem…
caldera
390–400

from Latin caldaria

It is inherited from Late Latin caldāria (“cooking pot, cauldron”), recorded in Spanish from 922. Latin caldāria was a noun made from the feminine of the adjective caldārius (“of or for warming”)…
heredar
390–406

from Latin heredito

It is inherited from Late Latin hērēditō (“to inherit”). The Late Latin verb survives in all the Romance languages of Hispania, Gaul, Raetia and Sardinia: Portuguese herdar, Galician herdar…
portero
390–406

from Latin portarius

It is inherited from Old Spanish portero, inherited from Late Latin portārius (“doorkeeper”). The Latin word is formed from porta (“gate”) with the suffix -ārius; in Spanish terms it is puerta with…
semana
390–406

from Latin septimana

It is inherited from Late Latin septimāna (“week”); Old Spanish semana has the same form beside older spellings. The Late Latin noun is the feminine of the adjective septimānus (“of the seventh, of…
torta
390–406

from Latin torta

It continues inherited from Late Latin torta (“round loaf, cake”), well documented in the Vulgate and other writings of Saint Jerome; the origin of the Latin word is uncertain. The DLE gives it as…
ensayo
400–499

from Latin exagium

It is inherited from Late Latin exagium (“a weighing”), a Late Latin word of the same family as the classical exigō (“to weigh, examine”) and exāmen (“a weighing, examination”). Wiktionary describes…
enseñar
400

from Latin insigno

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin īnsignāre (“to mark, designate”), a verb of the glossaries that replaced Latin īnsignīre in popular speech. It is formed with in- on signō (“to mark”), from signum…
pastura
400

from Latin pastura

It is inherited from Late Latin pastūra (“grazing, pasture”). Late Latin formed the noun from the stem of pāstus, the past participle of pāscō (“to feed, pasture”), with the suffix -ūra. Lewis and…

All Spanish words inherited from Latin, by century →