logro

Forms

logro m (plural logros)^[1] Old Spanish also had the form alogro, which the DEMel records more often than logro.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lucrum (“gain, profit”).^[3][4][5][1] In Old Spanish logro first meant “interest, usury”.^[3][4] The verb lograr, from lucrārī (“to make a profit”), was the commoner word from the earliest centuries of the language.^[3][4] As the verb gained ground, Corominas explains, the noun came to be felt as a deverbal of it, and so took the sense “obtaining, attainment”, found from the 17th century.^[3][4] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 accordingly derived the noun from the verb.^[6] The learned doublet is lucro, first recorded in 1734.^[4][1]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese logro, Catalan llogre, Old Occitan logre and Romanian lucru.^[7][8][9] Its meanings vary: “usury” in Spanish and Portuguese, “gain, especially usurious gain” in Old Catalan, “gift” in Old Occitan, and “business, matter, thing” in Romanian.^[8][10] Corominas notes that the Latin word survives only in these languages, with a stray 13th-century French example meaning “gain”.^[3]

De Vaan traces the Latin noun to a Proto-Italic *luklo-, dissimilated to *lukro-, and to Proto-Indo-European *lh₂u-tló- (“seizure, gain”).^[11] Wiktionary analyses this as the root *leh₂w- (“profit, gain”) with the instrument suffix *-tlom.^[1] Cognates are Ancient Greek ἀπολαύω (apolaúō, “to enjoy”) and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌽 (laun, “reward”).^[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) uses it for interest on a loan: el iudio pierda el logro delos dineros “the Jew is to lose the interest on the money”.^[12] Corominas's first record is a 13th-century Bible manuscript, where it renders Latin usura.^[3] The DEMel's earliest primary record, of the first third of the 13th century, has the form alogro.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word meant the interest earned by lending, and so usury: the law codes of Alfonso X condemn los que dan a logro, those who lend at interest.^[13] The Toledo glossary of about 1400 uses it for Latin fenerarius, and Nebrija still glosses logro en la usura as lucrum, foenus.^[3][14] The sense remained common in the Golden Age.^[3] Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as the gain that comes beyond the capital.^[15]

Autoridades gives three senses: the gain or profit from money or anything else, the attainment and possession of what one wishes, and usury.^[16] The Academy's 1884 edition put “the action and effect of achieving” first, and the modern dictionaries keep that order, with gain and excessive gain after it.^[6][5] Today the word mostly means an achievement or success; the old sense lives on in the phrase dar a logro “to lend at usury”.^[17][5][1]

In Portuguese, logro went on to mean a fraud or trick.^[18]

Timeline

• 1200–1233 – the form alogro in a disputation between a Christian and a Jew.^[2]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses logro for interest on money.^[12]
• 13th century – a Bible manuscript renders Latin usura with it.^[3]
• 1256–1300 – Alfonso X's law code condemns those who dan a logro.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses logro en la usura as lucrum, foenus.^[3][14]
• 1515 – first record in the Americas, at Santo Domingo, of the usury merchants commit.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin lucrum.^[15]
• 17th century – the sense “attainment”, in Eugenio Coloma.^[3][4]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it first as the action and effect of lograr.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of achieving something; attainment: El logro de la paz llevó años.^[5][20][1]
2. An achievement, a success: Terminar la carrera fue su mayor logro.^[17][1]
3. (video games) An achievement unlocked by a player.^[1]
4. gain, profit.^[5][20]
5. Excessive gain; usury.^[5][20]

Word family

• logrero
• logrería
• logrear

Related words

• lograr
• lucro
• malograr
• Latin lucrum
• Portuguese logro

Usage notes

Dar a logro means to lend something at usury.^[5][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. logro
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 688
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lograr
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. logro
6. ^ 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. 651
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3964
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 243
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. llogre
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. logro
13. ^ 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. logro
14. ^ a b 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. logro
15. ^ 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. 1092
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 430
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. logro
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. logro
19. ^ 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. logro
20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. logro