lejos

Forms

lejos (superlative lejísimos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish lexos, inherited from Latin laxius (“more widely, more loosely”), the comparative adverb of laxus (“wide, loose”).^[2][3][4][1] Diez proposed the adjective itself, and Meyer-Lübke accepted this, taking the final /s/ for the adverbial ending of antes, menos and detrás.^[2] Corominas follows Zauner and Hanssen in starting from the comparative, which explains the /s/ directly and was common in Latin in the sense “more spread out”; in Cicero it already means “further off, later”.^[2] García de Diego starts instead from the plural of the adjective.^[5]

Old Spanish also had alexos and a variant lenxos, which Juan de Valdés disapproved of;^[6] Corominas puts its ⟨n⟩ down to the influence of lueñe, of Portuguese longe or rather of the verb alongarse.^[2] Within Romance the word is Castilian only: the Old Portuguese verb aleixar-se (“to move away”) may be a Castilianism.^[2]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *(s)lakso- and Proto-Indo-European *slǵ-so- (“weak, faint”), the root of langueō (“to be faint”) too.^[6] The English word languid is thus a distant relative, while length is unrelated.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is lexos in a charter of 1236 published by Menéndez Pidal.^[2][3] The Poridat de las poridades (c. 1250) advises a ruler that he should show himself to the people de lexos “from afar”, with a company of knights and armed men.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the usual word for “far” was still lueñe, used by Berceo and in the Libro de Apolonio;^[8] lexos appears in the Primera Crónica General and in the Buenos proverbios, gains ground in the 14th century (Conde Lucanor, Libro de buen amor) and is general by the time of Palencia and Nebrija.^[2] Nebrija gives it for Latin longe.^[8]

Covarrubias (1611) records the painters' noun lexos for what is painted small so as to look distant from the main figure, and the phrase tener buenos lexos, said of a woman who looks better from a distance than close up.^[9] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1734) adds its use as an adjective, “distant” (lejas partes), and the phrase buen lejos.^[10] Covarrubias, Autoridades and the Academy's 1884 edition all connected it with Latin longe.^[9][10][11] The 1884 edition also defined the nouns “appearance from a distance” and “semblance, glimmer”.^[11]

The adjective lejo is popular speech in Cuba, and lejas tierras is widespread in literature.^[2] The derivatives lejano (1490) and alejar (second half of the 13th century) are early.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1236 – lexos in a charter.^[2][3]
• c. 1250 – the Poridat de las poridades has de lexos.^[7]
• 1250–1300 – the Libro de Moamín uses alexos.^[12]
• 1490 – the derivative lejano appears in Palencia.^[2][3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary renders longe as lexos.^[8]
• 1518 – first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the painters' noun lexos.^[9]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades spells it lejos.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary defines the nouns “appearance from a distance” and “semblance”.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. far, far away: at a great distance in space or time; also figurative: Su pueblo queda lejos de la costa.^[4][1][14]

Noun

1. The look of someone or something seen from a distance.^[4]
2. A semblance or glimmer of something.^[4]
3. (painting) In a picture, engraving or drawing, something shown in the distance, away from the main subject; the background.^[4]

Word family

• lejano
• alejar

Related words

• lueñe
• Latin laxus
• laxo

Usage notes

Common phrases are a lo lejos “in the distance”, and de lejos or desde lejos, also meaning “clearly, obviously”.^[4] The superlative is lejísimos.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 626
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lejos
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. lejos
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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. lejos
8. ^ a b c 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. lejos
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. 1083
10. ^ 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. lejos
11. ^ 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. 636
12. ^ 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. lejos
13. ^ 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. alexos
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lejos