juramento

Forms

juramento m (plural juramentos)^[1] Old Spanish had juramento (also spelt iuramento) beside juramiento (iuramiento, yuramiento).^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish juramento, inherited from Late Latin iūrāmentum (“oath”).^[4][1][5] Corominas dates it 1045 and lists it among the derivatives of jurar.^[6] The same Latin word is Portuguese juramento, Galician xuramento, Asturian xuramentu, Catalan jurament, French jurement, Italian giuramento and Romanian jurământ.^[7][8]

The Latin noun is formed from iūrō (“to swear, take an oath”) with the noun suffix -mentum.^[1][5] The verb is formed from iūs (“law”).^[9][10] De Vaan reconstructs a Proto-Italic noun *jowos “oath, law”, from a Proto-Indo-European word for “vital force, eternity”;^[10][1] Wiktionary traces it to *h₂yew-.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's Breve diccionario dates the word 1045.^[6] The DEMel's first record in a Spanish text is iuramiento in the Becerro of Benevívere (c. 1220–1230).^[2] The early fueros use it for the oath of the parties: the Fuero de Cáceres (c. 1234–1275), still half in Latin, has si iuramento fizieren contra conceio “if they swear an oath against the council”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's laws speak of the yuramiento a sick man made to a priest.^[3] Covarrubias in 1611 explains the juramento de calumnia from the Partidas, the oath the parties took that they did not go to law in bad faith.^[12] Autoridades in 1734 defines the oath as calling on God as witness, either by naming him or through his creatures, and distinguishes the juramento asertorio, which affirms something present or past, and the conminatorio, which threatens harm.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 adds the decisorio, execratorio, falso, judicial, promisorio and supletorio oaths.^[14]

The proverb si el juramento es por nos, la burra es nuestra, por Dios (about how easily people swear to their own advantage) is in Domínguez and in the Academy's edition of 1869.^[15][16] The sense “curse, swear word” entered the Academy's dictionary in 1899;^[17][18] Moliner glosses it as a blasphemy or angry imprecation.^[17][18] In Panama juramento a la bandera is the civic pledge of loyalty to the nation.^[4] The word is recorded in Puerto Rico in 1512, in a judicial deposition.^[19]

Timeline

• 1045 – first record, according to Corominas.^[6]
• c. 1220–1230 – iuramiento in the Becerro of Benevívere.^[2]
• c. 1234–1275 – the Fuero de Cáceres uses iuramento for the oath of the parties.^[11]
• 1490 – the verb juramentar is first recorded.^[6]
• 1512 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the juramento de calumnia.^[12]
• 1734 – Autoridades distinguishes the asertorio and conminatorio oaths.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the sense “curse, swear word”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oath: an affirmation or denial made with God, oneself or his creatures as witness;^[4][1] prestar juramento is to take an oath: Los nuevos concejales prestaron juramento ayer.^[4][1]
2. A curse or swear word.^[4][18]
3. (Panama) juramento a la bandera: the civic pledge of allegiance to the flag.^[4]

Word family

• juramentar

Related words

• jurar
• jura
• perjurio
• Latin iūrāmentum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. juramento
3. ^ a b 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. juramento
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. juramento
5. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. juramento
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. jurar
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. juramentum
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 403
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. iūrō
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. juramento
12. ^ 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. 1027
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 333
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 511
15. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1041
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 450
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 579
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. juramento
19. ^ 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. juramento