justo

Forms

justo (feminine justa, masculine plural justos, feminine plural justas, superlative justísimo)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write iusto.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish justo, inherited from Latin iūstus (“just, lawful”).^[4][5][6][1] Corominas sees no decisive reason to call it a learned word in any Romance language except French juste, and even there the old form just may be inherited.^[4]

The same word is Portuguese justo, Galician xusto, Asturian xustu, Aragonese chusto, Catalan just and Italian giusto.^[7][8][1]

The Latin adjective is formed from iūs (“law, right”).^[9][10] Old Latin had the form iouestod, an ablative on the Forum inscription.^[9][10] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *jowesto- (“just”), from the stem of a word meaning “vital force, eternity”.^[10][1] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH and the BDELC date the word from the Cantar de mio Cid and Berceo.^[4][5] Alfonso X's prose has its moral and religious senses: God is called justo claro & derechurero “just, bright and upright”, and the iustos are opposed to sinners.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Besides “acting justly” and “righteous before God”, Covarrubias records the sense “exact in weight or measure” and vestido justo, a tight-fitting garment.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “equal, exact” and “tight, leaving no gap”, both with lines of Quevedo.^[12] In the slang of the germanía, justo was a doublet, the garment.^[13][14]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary gives the adverb “justly; tightly”.^[14] Today the adverb is common for “exactly, just”, as in justo cuando “just when”, and in music justo describes a perfect interval.^[15] In the Canaries, a 1497 synod mentions the justo, a Portuguese gold coin of John II.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – first record, in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[4][5][2]
• 1256 – Alfonso X's Picatrix calls God justo.^[3]
• 1480 – first record of injustamente.^[4]
• 1505 – first record in the Americas, in Tierra Firme: a justo o ynjusto.^[17]
• 1609 – Hidalgo's germanía vocabulary has justo “doublet”.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives the sense “exact, tight-fitting” and the phrase en justo y creyente “at once”.^[11]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it with quotations of Quevedo.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. iustus” and the adverb.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. just, fair: acting according to justice and reason; also as a noun.^[6][1]
2. In accordance with justice and reason: una decisión justa del árbitro.^[6][18]
3. righteous: living according to God's law; also as a noun, los justos.^[6]
4. exact: having neither more nor less than it should in number, weight or measure.^[6]
5. tight, fitting closely: Estos zapatos me quedan justos.^[6]

Adverb

1. exactly, just: Llegó justo a tiempo.^[6][1]
2. tightly, closely.^[6][1]

Word family

• justillo
• ajustar
• injusto
• justedad

Related words

• justicia
• justificar
• Latin iustus
• Portuguese justo

Usage notes

Al justo means “exactly, in due proportion”.^[6] The proverb pagan justos por pecadores “the righteous pay for the sinners” is in Covarrubias.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. justo
3. ^ 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. justo
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 542
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. justo
6. ^ 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. justo
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. justus
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. justus
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. iustus
10. ^ a b c d 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. iūs
11. ^ 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. 1028
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 337
13. ^ a b Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 183
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 622
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. justo
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. justo
17. ^ 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. justo
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. justo