mínimo

Forms

mínimo (feminine mínima, masculine plural mínimos, feminine plural mínimas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin minimus (“smallest, least”), the superlative that goes with the comparative minor (“smaller”).^[2][3][1][4] Bénaben notes that it served as the superlative of parvus (“small”), whose regular superlative was rare.^[5] García de Diego calls the Spanish word a learned one; the Latin word survives in popular form in Italian menomo and in names of the little finger such as Portuguese meiminho.^[6][7]

De Vaan lists the superlative among the derivatives of the comparative, which goes back to Proto-Italic *minōs (“less”) and Proto-Indo-European forms meaning “small” and “less”.^[8] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”).^[9] The same family includes menor and menos.^[2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates mínimo to 1584.^[2] Boyd-Bowman's records from the Americas are earlier: in 1578 a writer from Nueva Galicia calls himself the king's mínimo vasallo “humblest vassal”.^[11] In the earliest records the word is a superlative of rank and size, “least, humblest, smallest”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

The superlative más mínimo was common from the start: Chile 1586 has a la más mínima desgracia “at the least misfortune”, Buenos Aires 1599 el consejo del más mínimo soldado “the advice of the humblest soldier”, and Sancho Panza obeys a la más mínima voz de su amo.^[11][12] In the Quijote the feminine mínima is also the musical note worth half a semibreve.^[12]

In 1817 the Academy defined the adjective as the irregular superlative of pequeño and added the friars and nuns of the order of Saint Francis of Paola, the Minims.^[13] The noun “lower limit” and the plural mínimos, a class of the old grammar school, are in the 1899 edition.^[14] Today the noun is used freely (un mínimo de, salario mínimo, como mínimo).^[1][15] In Honduras and Guatemala mínimo is a small banana, and in Costa Rica the adjective has meant “weak, cowardly”.^[16][17][18]

Timeline

• 1578 – first record, in a document from Nueva Galicia.^[11]
• 1584 – the date Corominas gives.^[2][19]
• 1586 – la más mínima desgracia in a document from Chile.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as the superlative of pequeño and records the Minim friars.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the noun “lower limit”.^[14]
• 20th century – the verb minimizar is formed.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. So small that there is none smaller or equal; least, minimal: sin el mínimo interés.^[3][1]
2. Meticulous, attentive to detail.^[3]
3. Belonging to the order of Minims, founded in Italy by Saint Francis of Paola in 1435; also as a noun.^[3][13]

Noun

1. minimum: the lowest limit, the least to which something can be reduced.^[3][1]
2. (Honduras, Guatemala) A kind of small banana, the guineo.^[3][16]
3. (in the plural, historical) The second class of the old teaching of grammar, where the genders of nouns and the first sentences were taught.^[3]
4. (feminine, mínima, obsolete) A very small thing or part.^[3]

Word family

• mínima
• minimizar
• semínima

Related words

• menor
• menos
• máximo
• Latin minimus

Usage notes

Como mínimo means “at least”, and lo más mínimo, in negative sentences, “not at all”.^[3][19] The DTME notes that la mínima is used of the lowest temperature and, colloquially, of the diastolic blood pressure.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. menos
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. mínimo
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. minor
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. minor
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
11. ^ a b c d e Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
12. ^ a b c Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 750
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 575
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 661
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. mínimo
16. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. mínimo
17. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 561
18. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 282
19. ^ a b 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. 431
20. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. mínimo