llave

Forms

llave f (plural llaves)^[1] Berceo's own form seems to have been clave, with the Aragonese treatment of cl-, although llave also occurs in his works.^[2] The DEMel records llave, llaue, clau, claue and chaue in Old Spanish texts.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin clāvis (“key; bar, bolt”).^[2][4][5][1] Latin initial cl- became the palatal /ʎ/, written ⟨ll⟩, as in llamar from clāmō.^[6][2] The learned doublet clave is recorded from about 1570, in Ambrosio de Morales.^[2][4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese chave, Galician chave, Asturian llave, Aragonese clau, Catalan clau, French clef, Italian chiave and Romanian cheie.^[7][8][1] Corominas calls it a word common to all the Romance languages.^[2]

clāvis goes back to *klāwis (“bar, bolt”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“to close”).^[9][1] De Vaan relates it to Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “bar, bolt; key”) and to the Slavic words for “key”, and thinks Latin built both clāvis and clāvus (“nail”) on one base.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Breve diccionario dates the word to 1220–1250, in Berceo.^[4] In his Loores de Nuestra Señora (in an 18th-century copy) the apostles hold „las llaves de abrir e cerrar” “the keys to open and to close”, the power to forgive sins.^[10][6] The first hit in a text with no later copy is the Poridat de las poridades (c. 1250), where a key-keeper says „estas son las llaues de las archas” “these are the keys of the chests”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

A figurative sense is nearly as old as the literal one.^[10] In the Libro de los doce sabios (c. 1237, in a later copy) a virtue is the „llave del salvamiento” “key to salvation”.^[10] Alfonso X's prose also uses llave for a wedge joining two pieces of an astrolabe, for a stronghold guarding a whole region and for a means of access.^[11]

The Diccionario de Autoridades adds the key used to tighten the screws of beds and the tap of fountains and large vessels.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 has the lock of firearms, the tuning key of harps and the key of a crossbow.^[13] The 1869 edition has the watch key and the keys of wind instruments, and the 1884 edition the wrench for nuts.^[14][15] Today the word also names the brace sign, a hold in wrestling and a subject that must be passed before others.^[5]

In most of Latin America llave is the usual word for a tap.^[16][17] In the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Venezuela it is also a close friend.^[16] Román, writing on Chilean usage, noted that the Academy's dictionary lacked the dentist's llave for pulling teeth, a tool that good dentists no longer used.^[18]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo.^[4]
• c. 1250 – the Poridat de las poridades, the first text not known from a later copy.^[10]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas names keys among the things kept in chests.^[11]
• 1277 – the sense “wedge” in Alfonso X's astronomical books.^[11]
• 1545 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1562 – a harquebus con llave de pedernal “with a flintlock”, in Puebla.^[19]
• c. 1570 – the learned doublet clave.^[4]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades has the bed key and the tap.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary has the firearm lock.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. clavis” and the wrench for nuts.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. key: an instrument, usually of metal, that is put into a lock to open and close it: Dejé las llaves dentro del coche.^[5][1]
2. A wrench, spanner: a tool for tightening or loosening nuts.^[5][1]
3. A tap or valve for a pipe (llave de paso); in much of Latin America, the ordinary word for a tap.^[5][16][1]
4. In old portable firearms, the lock that fired the charge.^[5][1]
5. A small key for winding clocks and watches.^[5]
6. A key of a wind instrument, worked by the fingers to open or close the passage of air.^[5][1]
7. A wedge that secures two pieces of wood or iron.^[5]
8. An instrument used by dentists to pull teeth.^[5]
9. A curly bracket, used to group items in tables and diagrams.^[5][1]
10. In some kinds of wrestling, a hold that immobilizes or throws the opponent.^[5][1]
11. A subject that must be passed before one may take the examinations of others.^[5]
12. A principle or means that gives access to knowledge of something: Esa carta fue la llave del misterio.^[5]
13. A thing that protects or guards others.^[5]
14. An electric switch.^[1][20]
15. (Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela; colloquial) A close friend.^[16]

Word family

• llavero
• llavín

Related words

• clave
• clavero
• clavija
• clavícula
• cónclave
• Latin clāvis
• Portuguese chave

Usage notes

Set phrases include bajo llave “under lock and key”, ama de llaves “housekeeper”, llave maestra “master key” and llave inglesa “adjustable spanner”.^[1][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 725
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. llave
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. llave
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. llave
6. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 453
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. clāvis
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1678
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. llave
11. ^ 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. llave
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 421
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 538
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 475
15. ^ 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. 657
16. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. llave
17. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. llave
18. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 365
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. llave
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. llave