juego

Forms

juego m (plural juegos)^[1] Old Spanish texts write juego, iuego and yuego.^[2] The Cid also has the spelling guego.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iocus (“joke, jest; amusement”).^[4][5][6][1] The Latin word was a verbal jest, and it replaced ludus (“game, play”) as the general word for play in Late Latin.^[7][8]

The same word is Portuguese jogo, Galician xogo, Asturian xuegu, Aragonese chuego, Catalan joc, Occitan jòc, French jeu, Italian gioco and Romanian joc.^[9][10][1]

The verb jugar is not formed from the noun: it is iocor (“to jest”), in the oldest texts jogar.^[4][5] Corominas explains its /u/ by the spread of the diphthong of the stressed forms such as juega, through *juogar.^[4]

De Vaan traces it to Proto-Italic *joko- and Proto-Indo-European *i̯ok-o- (“word, utterance”), related to iuka (“words, prayers”), Welsh iaith (“language”) and Old High German jehan (“to say, utter”).^[11] English joke is from the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy): when the lion has been caught, non viestes tal juego commo iva por la cort “you never saw such mockery as went round the court”.^[12] There, and in the phrase en juego o en vero “in jest or in earnest”, it means “joke, mockery”.^[3] This Latin sense is frequent in the Middle Ages, in Berceo, the Libro de Alexandre and Juan Ruiz.^[4]

Semantic evolution

By the 13th century the word covered play of every kind: the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca says los juegos tornan a sañas “the games turn into quarrels”.^[12] Alfonso X uses it for games with rules, such as chess and dice, for public spectacles like Pompey's games, and for a skilful plan.^[13] The old sense “jest” survives in juego de palabras “play on words”, in Nebrija.^[4]

Covarrubias describes play as a pastime needed by those who work with their minds.^[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as honest recreation that excess makes harmful, and keeps the sense “mockery”.^[15] In 1884 the Academy added that the gambling of large sums deserves reproach.^[16] Modern senses include a set of matching things, the play between machine parts, and a computer game.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses juego for “mockery”.^[4][5][12]
• c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (in a 14th-century copy) uses it for “game, sport”.^[12]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses juegos for public spectacles.^[13]
• 1276–1279 – Alfonso X's works speak of iuego de acedrex o de dados “a game of chess or dice”.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija records juego de palabras.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as a needed pastime.^[14]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from Latin iocus.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy defines a game with rules in which one wins or loses.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. play: the action of playing for fun.^[6][1]
2. A game: a pastime or competition with rules, in which one wins or loses: Inventaron un juego con dos dados.^[6][1]
3. gambling.^[6][1]
4. Something trivial or easy; child's play: Esto no es ningún juego.^[6]
5. A game as a division of a match in some sports and games.^[6]
6. The equipment needed to play a game.^[6]
7. A computer or video game.^[6]
8. The cards dealt to each player; a hand.^[6]
9. In the card game mus, the fourth stage of a round.^[6]
10. A set of similar things used together: un juego de sábanas.^[6][1]
11. A joint of two parts that leaves them some freedom of movement, and that movement; play, slack.^[6]
12. In a four-wheeled vehicle, each pair of wheels with their axle.^[6]

Word family

• minijuego
• jueguito

Related words

• jocoso
• jocundo
• jugador
• juguete
• juguetón
• lúdico
• jugar
• juglar
• Latin iocus
• Portuguese jogo

Usage notes

Set phrases include fuera de juego “offside”, hacer juego “to match” and juego de manos “sleight of hand”.^[1] The plural juegos also names public games and festivals.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. juego
3. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 318
4. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 534
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. juego
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. juego
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. juego
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. jocus
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4588
11. ^ 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. iocus
12. ^ 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. juego
13. ^ a b c 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. juego
14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1023
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. juego
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 618
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. juego