joven

Forms

joven m or f (masculine and feminine plural jóvenes, superlative jovencísimo or menor)^[1] Old Spanish wrote iouen and jouen; a feminine jovena is also recorded.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish joven, inherited from Latin iuvenis (“young; young man”), but a semi-learned word rather than a popular one.^[4][5][1][6] Inherited in the popular way, the Latin word would have given *jone in Castilian, as pectinem gave peine and sanguinem gave sangre.^[4] Portuguese jovem has the same history, while in the other Romance languages the word belongs to the inherited stock: Catalan jove, Occitan jove, French jeune, Italian giovane and Romanian june.^[4][7]

The Latin word continues *juwen- “young”.^[8] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₂iu-h₁en-, “one who has vital force”, while Wiktionary gives *h₂yéwHō (“young”); the cognates include युवन् (yúvan, “young”) and English young.^[8][1] The ending -is was taken over from the i-stems, replacing an older n-stem nominative.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211, in a copy of the first quarter of the 13th century), where one of a king's sons is called „Clotario el iouen” “Clotario the Young”.^[2] In the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, in a 14th-century copy) the saint greets young men with „Dios vos salve, jóvenes”.^[2] Corominas's first record is the Calila e Dimna of 1251, where the word is applied to an elephant.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Through the Middle Ages and the Golden Age the everyday word was mozo, and joven is not found in ordinary prose until the 17th century; the earlier examples are in verse, or apply to animals, as in Juan Ruiz's greyhound.^[4][5] Nebrija leaves it out, and Covarrubias mentions it only as an old word.^[4] Góngora used it very often, and Quevedo repeatedly mocked it as a typical word of the culteranos.^[4] Autoridades (1734) defines it plainly as someone in the age of youth, quoting a prose text of 1693.^[9][4]

The derived jovencito and jovencillo appear in Moratín, and jovenzuelo is in the Academy's dictionary from 1925.^[4] The learned juventud became usual, though learned, much earlier than joven.^[4] The first records from the Americas are from Bogotá (1776) and Lima.^[10] In Mexico joven is a respectful form of address to a young man.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1194–1211 – Clotario el iouen in the Liber Regum.^[2]
• c. 1215 – jóvenes in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, in a 14th-century copy.^[2]
• c. 1250 – omne iouen in the Poridat de poridades, the first hit without a later copy.^[2]
• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna applies it to an elephant.^[4][5]
• 17th century – the word enters ordinary prose;^[9] Góngora uses it often and Quevedo mocks it.^[4]
• 1734 – Autoridades defines it as someone in the age of youth.^[9]
• 1776 – first record from the Americas, in Bogotá.^[10]
• 1925 – jovenzuelo enters the Academy's dictionary.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. young, in the age of youth: una pareja joven.^[6][1]
2. Of little age, compared with others: Mi hermano es el más joven de la familia.^[6]
3. Typical of young people, youthful: Viste de un modo muy joven.^[6][12]
4. Of an animal: not yet sexually mature.^[6]
5. Keeping the qualities of youth.^[6]
6. el joven, after a name: “the Younger”, distinguishing a person from an older one of the same name.^[6]

Noun

1. A youth, a young man or woman: Los jóvenes del barrio organizaron la fiesta.^[6][1]
2. (Mexico) A respectful form of address to a young man.^[11]

Word family

• jovencito
• jovenzuelo
• jovenado

Related words

• juvenil
• juventud
• rejuvenecer
• mozo
• Latin iuvenis
• Portuguese jovem
• French jeune

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. joven
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. joven
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 529
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. joven
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. joven
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c 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 (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. joven
10. ^ 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. joven
11. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (2001), Diccionario breve de mexicanismos, México: Academia Mexicana / Fondo de Cultura Económica, p. s.v. joven
12. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. joven