lueñe

Forms

lueñe^[1] The Glosas Silenses spell it luenge.^[2] Berceo has luen and lueñe, and the Calila alueñe.^[2] The Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca and the Libro de Apolonio write luenye, the Fuero de Cáceres luene.^[3] Asturian keeps lloñe and llonxe.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish lueñe, inherited from Latin longē (“far, a long way”).^[5][1][2] The Latin word is the adverb of longus (“long”), which continues *dlongo- and Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰ-o-.^[6][7]

Corominas holds the sound change to be regular Castilian: the diphthong /we/ did not arise by itself, since ŏ did not diphthongise before a palatal, but from the vowel together with the palatal glide contained in ⟨ñ⟩, as in old vergüeña from verēcundia.^[2] The word was later replaced by lejos.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese longe, Galician lonxe, Asturian lloñe, Catalan lluny, Occitan luènh, French loin and Italian lungi.^[8][9][1] The Old Aragonese form luent goes with the dialectal Catalan form llunt of Castellón.^[2] Corominas explains the final -t as a crossing, perhaps with a word for “often”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the late 10th century, have it in the spelling luenge.^[2][10] In the 13th century it was common as an adverb of place: the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca has the saint say Yo só de muy luenye nada, “I was born very far away”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adverb was frequent throughout the Middle Ages, in the Libro de Alexandre, Sem Tob and the Danza de la Muerte.^[2] Alfonso X also used it as an adjective, “distant”, and for “deep”.^[11] Nebrija gave lueñes as an adverb.^[2][12] Corominas notes that the adverb turned into an adjective, lueñe and later lueño, above all in the phrase lueñas tierras, which the BDELC dates about 1600.^[2][10]

By 1734 the Autoridades called it an old word, quoting the Libro de la montería of King Alfonso and the Conde Lucanor.^[13] The Academy today marks the adjective as rarely used and the adverb as obsolete.^[5]

Timeline

• late 10th century – luenge in the Glosas Silenses.^[2][10]
• c. 1215 – luenye in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (in a 14th-century copy).^[3]
• 1228–1246 – Berceo writes lueñe and luen.^[3][2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses luenne, “far”.^[11]
• c. 1600 – the adjectival phrase lueñas tierras.^[10]
• 1734 – the Autoridades calls it an old word.^[13]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (obsolete) far, at a great distance (lejos).^[5][1][14]

Adjective

1. (rare, literary) distant, far-off (lejano).^[5][1]

Related words

• luengo
• alongar
• lejos
• Latin longē
• Portuguese longe

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 m n Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 708
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. lueñe
4. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. lloñe
5. ^ a b c d 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. lueñe
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 3939
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. luengo
11. ^ 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. lueñe
12. ^ 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. lueñe
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 437
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lueñe