máximo

Forms

máximo (feminine máxima, masculine plural máximos, feminine plural máximas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin maximus (“greatest”), the superlative of magnus (“great”).^[2][3][4][1] The older Latin spelling was maxumus.^[5][6] The word is learned in Spanish, as in Italian massimo and Portuguese máximo, while the popular outcome survived in Old French maisme.^[7]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *magisamo- (“greatest”), beside *magno- (“great”), from the Indo-European root of *mǵ-no- (“great”).^[6] Wiktionary links it with Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH and the BDELC date the word to Alonso de Palencia, in the phrase máximo pontífice, with examples of general use in the 16th and 17th centuries quoted by Autoridades.^[2][3] DEMel lists it in two glossaries of Berceo's Vida de san Millán, of about 1235.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Early American texts use it in titles, such as pontífise máximo in Peru in 1615 and Clemente IX, pontífice máximo in Mexico City in 1668.^[9] The Academy's 1869 edition defined it only as the superlative of grande, the greatest of its kind; the 1899 edition added the noun, the upper limit that something can reach.^[10][11] Alemany in 1917 listed the terms máximo común divisor in arithmetic and círculo máximo in geometry.^[12] In medicine the feminine máxima is colloquially the systolic blood pressure.^[13]

From the same Latin word Spanish took máxima “maxim”, in the 17th century, properly a “greatest”, that is basic, rule, and the adverb máxime.^[3][14]

Timeline

• c. 1235 – two glossaries of Berceo's Vida de san Millán, as listed by DEMel.^[8]
• 1490 – máximo pontífice in Alonso de Palencia.^[3][2]
• 1615 – the first record from the Americas, pontífise máximo in Peru.^[9]
• 17th century – the noun máxima.^[3]
• 1869 – the Academy defines it as the superlative of grande.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the noun “upper limit”.^[11]
• 1917 – Alemany records máximo común divisor and círculo máximo.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Greatest, the largest of its kind; maximum, utmost: Obtuvo la puntuación máxima del concurso.^[4][1][15]

Noun

1. A maximum, the upper limit that something can reach: Las temperaturas alcanzaron su máximo en agosto.^[4][1]

Related words

• máxima
• máxime
• máximum
• mayor
• magno
• Latin magnus

Usage notes

Como máximo means “at most”, and al máximo “to the utmost”.^[15][1] Máximo with a capital is a man's name, from Latin Maximus.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 890
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mayor
4. ^ a b c 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. máximo
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. máximo
9. ^ 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. máximo
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 497
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 644
12. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1103
13. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. máximo
14. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 395
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. máximo