mañana

Forms

mañana^[1] Old Spanish wrote mannana, also maynana and manyana.^[2][3] The First General Chronicle also has a shorter manna.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish mannana, inherited from Vulgar Latin *maneana (“early”), short for a Vulgar Latin phrase with hora (“hour”) meaning “at an early hour”.^[4][5][6][1] The adjective was formed on mane (“in the morning”).^[4][5] Corominas takes a shorter manna in the First General Chronicle as a sign that the adjective was preceded by a shorter *maneus.^[4] Old Spanish also had man (“morning”), straight from the Latin adverb, in the Cid and Berceo.^[4][7]

The word is found only in Spanish and Portuguese manhã, with a masculine form in Sardinian; the other Romance languages took their word for the morning from Latin matutinus.^[4] For the sense of the next day Catalan demà, Occitan deman, French demain and Italian domani go back to Latin de with the same adverb.^[4] Wiktionary relates the Latin adverb to mānus (“good”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest use is probably as an adverb, “early, in the morning”: the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has otro día mañana “early the next day” and mucho es mañana “it is very early”.^[4][8] The Cid also has the noun: the Campeador orders his men to saddle up „a la mañana, cuando los gallos cantarán” “in the morning, when the cocks crow”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the adverb “early” came the noun la mañana “the morning”, found in the Cid and Berceo and as Mozarabic la manyana in a 12th-century kharja.^[4] The sense “tomorrow” is not found in the 13th century: Old Spanish said cras, as in Latin, and cras mañana “tomorrow morning”.^[4][5] Shortened to mañana, this took the sense “tomorrow” in the 14th century, in the Poema de Alfonso XI, and by Palencia and Nebrija it is plain mañana.^[4][5] Nebrija glossed it cras, “the day after today”.^[9] Autoridades gives the noun, the adverb “tomorrow” and the sense “soon, before long”.^[10]

Today the masculine el mañana means “the future”.^[6][1] In Argentina la mañana has also been used for the east.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it as an adverb, “early”, and as a noun, “morning”.^[4][3][5]
• mid-12th century – Mozarabic la manyana in a kharja.^[4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – desde la mannana fasta la noche in the Fuero de Zorita, the first record in a contemporary manuscript.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses mannana for the morning.^[11]
• 14th century – mañana “tomorrow” in the Poema de Alfonso XI.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it cras “tomorrow”.^[9]
• 1519 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the adverb in the sense “soon”.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. tomorrow: Te llamo mañana.^[6][1]
2. At some time in the future, soon.^[6][1]
3. Early, in the morning: Se levantó muy de mañana.^[6]

Noun

1. (feminine) The morning, from dawn to midday or to lunchtime.^[6][1]
2. (feminine) The hours from midnight to midday: a las cuatro y media de la mañana.^[6]
3. (feminine) The weather of a morning.^[6]
4. (masculine) The future: Nadie sabe qué traerá el mañana.^[6][1]

Word family

• mañanero
• mañanear
• trasmañana

Related words

• amanecer
• maitines
• matutino
• Latin mane
• Portuguese manhã

Usage notes

Pasado mañana is “the day after tomorrow”, formerly also trasmañana.^[4][6] In the sense “morning” the noun is feminine (la mañana), in the sense “future” masculine (el mañana).^[6][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. mañana
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. mañana
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 833
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mañana
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. mañana
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4103
8. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. mañana
9. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 377
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. mañana
11. ^ 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. mañana
12. ^ 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. mañana