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madrina

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word madrina

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1220–1250 Berceo, Milagros de Nuestra Señora More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *matrina
Ultimate origin
Latin māter

Pronunciation

  • /maˈdɾina/, [maˈð̞ɾi.na][1]

Forms

madrina f (plural madrinas)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *matrīna (“godmother”), formed from māter (“mother”).[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes it from Medieval Latin mātrīna, first recorded in 753, from the stem of the same word and the suffix -īna.[1] Niermeyer and Du Cange record the Latin word as “godmother” and also as “stepmother”.[5][6] In Spanish it is the counterpart of padrino.[7]

Corominas calls it a derivative shared by every Romance language except Romanian.[3] It is Portuguese madrinha, Galician madriña, Catalan madrina, Occitan mairina and Italian madrina, and French marraine has a different suffix.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in Berceo, dated 1220–1250 in the BDELC.[3][10] In his Milagros the Virgin takes the soul of a nun to heaven, fuese la afijada con la buena madrina “the goddaughter went with her good godmother”.[11][12] Elsewhere in the Milagros Berceo uses it for a midwife.[12] The ordinances of the Cortes of Alcalá (1252) limit the guests at a wedding without counting el padrino e la madrina.[11]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Partidas explain that the godfather is the father of his godchild by spiritual birth, and the same of madrinas.[13] Covarrubias (1611) defines her as the woman who takes the mother's place beside a bride.[14] Autoridades (1734) adds the woman who favours a person's suit and a wooden prop or post.[15] By 1817 the Academy also listed the strap that joins the bits of two draught animals so that they keep pace, and in 1869 the old colloquial sense “procuress”.[16][17]

Alemany (1917) lists the mare that leads a herd of horses.[18] In Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras it is a small herd of tame cattle used to lead the wild ones.[2][19] Today it is also the woman who presides over a ceremony, as at the launching of a ship.[2][7] A madrina de guerra writes to and looks after a soldier at the front.[2]

Timeline

  • 1220–1250 – Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora has madrina.[10][11]
  • 1252 – the Cortes of Alcalá name the padrino and madrina of a wedding.[11]
  • c. 1252–1270 – Alfonso X's Setenario has madrinas at a baptism.[20][11]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija distinguishes madrina de bautismo and madrina de boda.[21]
  • 1560 – first record in the Americas, in Yucatán.[22]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias defines the wedding madrina.[14]
  • 1734 – Autoridades adds the senses “protectress” and “prop”.[15]
  • 1884 – the Academy first gives the etymology, from Late Latin matrina.[23]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A godmother: a woman who presents someone for baptism and takes on duties towards them.[2][1]
  2. A woman who accompanies someone receiving another Christian sacrament, such as a bride at her wedding.[2]
  3. A woman who presents and accompanies someone receiving an honour or degree.[2]
  4. A patroness or protector.[2]
  5. A woman who is the honorary president of an event or association: Fue la madrina del nuevo buque.[2][7]
  6. A wooden post or prop.[2]
  7. A strap or rope joining the bits of two draught animals so that they pull evenly.[2]
  8. A bell mare, the mare that leads a troop of horses.[2][1]
  9. (nautical) A piece of timber that strengthens another.[2]
  10. (Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela) A small herd of tame cattle used to gather or lead wild ones.[2][24]

Word family

  • amadrinar
  • madrinazgo
  • madrinero

Usage notes

Madrina de guerra is a woman who corresponds with a soldier at the front without being his relative or sweetheart.[2] In Mexico madrina is also a colloquial euphemism for madriza “a beating”.[24][1]

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 o 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. madrina
  3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 754
  4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 434
  5. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. matrina
  6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. matrina
  7. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. madrina
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. matrina
  9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. matrina
  10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. madre
  11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. madrina
  12. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 455
  13. ^ 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. madrina
  14. ^ 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. 1100
  15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 450
  16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 541
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 478
  18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1061
  19. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 212
  20. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. madrina
  21. ^ 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. madrina
  22. ^ 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. madrina
  23. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 661
  24. ^ 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. madrina

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Madrina.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/madrina. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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