joya

Forms

joya f (plural joyas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French joie (“jewel”), which Corominas explains as a back-formation from joiel (“jewel”), the source of modern French joyau.^[2][3][4] The older word goes back to Vulgar Latin *jocale, a derivative of Latin iocus (“game, joke”).^[2][3][5] Medieval Latin texts use the singular and especially the plural jocalia for jewels from the 9th century on, so Corominas assumes the word already existed in the Vulgar Latin of Gaul.^[2][6] The sense would have passed from “plaything” to “pleasing object” and then to “jewel”; Portuguese brinco, both “toy” and “earring”, shows the same shift.^[2][5][7]

Old French used the word in this sense from the 14th to the 16th century, and it passed from there into Occitan, Italian, Catalan and Portuguese; since Old Occitan joia already meant “jewel” in the 13th century, Corominas allows that Spanish may have taken it from Occitan or Catalan.^[2] The related joyel was borrowed separately and is recorded from 1391.^[2][3] The Old French variant joel is the source of English jewel.^[2][7]

Corominas rejects the older view, going back to Diez, that this word is the same as the Old French word for “joy”, from Latin gaudium (“joy”).^[2] García de Diego still files it under that Latin word.^[8] The DHLF doubts the Latin derivative and derives the modern French word from the French word for “game” instead.^[7] Covarrubias took the word from Italian gioia (“joy”), and the Academy gave that source in 1884 before changing it in 1899 to the related French loan recorded from 1391.^[9][10][11]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak”), with Umbrian, Welsh and Old High German cognates for “word” and “to say”.^[1][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is in the Fueros de Aragón of 1247, where an advocate must not accept a fee, a gift or ioyas from the other party.^[13] Corominas's first record is the Poema de Fernán González, of the second half of the 13th century: cada unos sus joyas al altar ofreçieron “each of them offered their jewels at the altar”.^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century the word was in general use for a jewel or a precious piece of finery.^[2] Nebrija glossed it with Latin words for household goods and, in the plural, for a woman's ornaments.^[14] Covarrubias described joyas as gold pieces set with stones that hung from headdresses or chains, and also gave the sense “prize in a contest” and the plural for the finery a bridegroom sends his bride.^[9] The Diccionario de Autoridades added a figurative sense, anything fine and worthy of esteem, and a gift given in return for a service.^[15] The Academy's 1899 edition first defined it as a person or thing of great worth.^[11]

In Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Bolivia it means a cunning rogue, and in several countries a person of bad reputation; in Argentina it is used colloquially as an adverb, “very well”.^[16][1]

Timeline

• 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón use ioyas for gifts that could sway an advocate.^[13]
• second half of the 13th century – the Poema de Fernán González has joyas offered at an altar; the CDH's copy is of 1460–1480.^[2][13]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it for an ornament of precious metal and stones.^[17]
• 1391 – the related joyel is first recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin vocabulary has joia and joias de muger.^[14]
• 1514 – the first record from the Americas, in Darién, of a pearl set aside as a jewel.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Italian gioia “joy”.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the figurative sense “anything fine and esteemed”.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary adds “person or thing of great worth”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A jewel: an ornament of gold, silver or platinum, with or without pearls or precious stones.^[4][1]
2. Something given as a reward or in thanks for a service.^[4]
3. A large brooch (brocamantón).^[4]
4. (figurative) A person or thing of great worth; often ironic: Su hermano es una joya.^[4][19]
5. (architecture) An astragal, the ring round the shaft of a column.^[4]
6. (military) The ornamental ring near the mouth of old cannon.^[4]
7. (in the plural) The clothes and jewels a woman brought to her marriage.^[4]
8. (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Colombia, derogatory) A cunning rogue.^[16][1]
9. (Nicaragua, Bolivia, Paraguay, Honduras, Uruguay) A person of bad reputation.^[16][1]

Adjective

1. (Rioplatense, colloquial) Great, very nice.^[1]

Adverb

1. (Argentina, colloquial) Very well, excellently: Salió todo joya.^[16]

Word family

• enjoyar
• joyero
• joyería

Related words

• joyel
• joyelero
• Latin iocus
• French joyau
• English jewel

Usage notes

Set phrases are joya de la corona, the most valued member of a group, and llevarse la joya, to carry off the prize.^[4] In El Salvador and rural Puerto Rico joya also means a hollow or a dip in the ground where water collects;^[16][20][21] García de Diego explains it as a form of hoya, from Latin fovea.^[16][20][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 529
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. joya
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. joya
5. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. joya
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. 4, 421
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. joyau
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3054
9. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1016
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 617
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 576
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ 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. joya
14. ^ a b 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. joya
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 322
16. ^ a b c d e f Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. joya
17. ^ 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. joya
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. hoya
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. joya
20. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. joya
21. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2896