linaje

Forms

linaje m (plural linajes)^[1] Old Spanish texts write linage, linnage, lignage, linaie and linatge;^[2] linage was the dictionary spelling until the 18th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Catalan llinatge, a dissimilated form of llinyatge, derived from llinya (“line”).^[5][6][1] Corominas argues that the dissimilation was unavoidable in Catalan, between the two palatals of ⟨ll-⟩ and ⟨-ny-⟩, but would not be explained in Castilian, and that formations in ⟨-aje⟩ are not native to Castilian; the word came with other terms of honour from Catalan, such as pundonor and orgullo.^[5] Prat Sabater also explains the Catalan origin by this dissimilation.^[7] In the earliest Spanish texts ⟨n⟩ may be a spelling of /ɲ/.^[5]

The DLE gives either Occitan linhatge or the Catalan form as the source, and García de Diego only the Occitan.^[8][9] Vox suggests French or Occitan.^[10]

The Catalan noun goes back to Latin līnea (“linen thread, line”).^[9][11] The word is common to the Romance languages, all with a palatal nasal except Castilian and Catalan: Italian lignaggio, French lignage and Portuguese linhagem.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas gives a document of 1107 and a charter of 1209, from Oelschläger's list; the DEMel also has 1107, from the collection of Oña, and the Breve diccionario says “perhaps already 1107”.^[5][2][6] The Liber Regum, of about 1194–1211, has lignage for a royal line: a queen had all the men del lignage del rei killed.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the word for lineage and descent, and also for a generation, a tribe (the linages de Israhel) and a kind or class of a thing.^[12] Covarrubias derived it from línea, because the generations descend from father to son as in a straight line.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades has the transferred sense “kind, class” and linage humano “the human race”.^[4] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 adds a regional plural sense, the nobles of a town recognised as such, and Salvá in 1846 notes the old phrase de nuevo linaje, said of converts of Jewish descent.^[14][15] The DLE now defines it as the ancestry or descent of a family, especially a noble one, and as a kind or condition of things.^[8]

Timeline

• 1107 – a document, the first record for Corominas and the DEMel.^[5][2]
• c. 1194–1211 – lignage in the Liber Regum.^[3][5]
• 1209 – a charter in Oelschläger's list.^[5][6]
• c. 1215 – linatge in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (in a 14th-century copy).^[3][16]
• 1254 – the Fuero Juzgo and Alfonso X's works use it for lineage, generation and kind.^[12]
• 1536 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[17]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from línea.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary adds the plural for the nobles of a town.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “from línea”.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. lineage: the ancestry or descent of a family, especially a noble one: Presumía de un linaje muy antiguo.^[8][1]
2. Kind, class or condition of a thing: Allí vendían objetos de todo linaje.^[8][19]
3. (dated, regional, in the plural) The noble citizens of a town, recognised as such and admitted to its body of nobility.^[14][20]

Word family

• linajudo
• linajista

Related words

• línea
• aliñar
• Catalan llinatge
• French lignage

Usage notes

Linaje humano is the human race.^[8][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ 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. linaje
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 410
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 661
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. línea
7. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 203
8. ^ a b c d e 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. linaje
9. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
10. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. linaje
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ 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. 1088
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 440
15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá
16. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 274
17. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. linaje
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 604