menester

Forms

menester m (plural menesteres)^[1] Old Spanish also had the shorter mester, as in Berceo's mester pesado “a heavy task”.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish menester, inherited from Latin ministerium (“service; employment, office”), a noun formed from minister (“servant, official”).^[3][4][1][5] The final vowel was lost, Corominas explains, because the word was used unstressed in the common phrase for “it is necessary (that)”.^[3][6] Wiktionary reports that Corominas and Pascual reject a borrowing from Occitan because the word is popular in meaning and found early in all kinds of texts.^[1] The REW, however, derives the Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese words from Old Occitan menestier.^[7] Its learned doublet is ministerio, recorded from 1220–1250.^[3]

The same Latin word is Old French mestier, whence French métier and Italian mestiere,^[7] old Catalan mester beside later menester,^[8] and Old Galician-Portuguese mester, Portuguese mister.^[9] Coromines adds that a popular confusion with Latin mysterium helped shorten the word in several languages,^[8] and the DHLF traces the French form to such a crossing.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses a menester for “he needs”: acógensele omnes de todas partes menguados, a menester seiscientos marcos “needy men gather to him from everywhere, he needs six hundred marks”.^[11][12][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word meant both “need” and “task, occupation”: Alfonso X writes of a stone that non a mester ayuda de obrador “needs no help from a craftsman”, and of viles menesteres “base trades”.^[13] The phrases haber menester “to need” and ser menester “to be necessary” were common;^[14][15] Moliner notes that today the word is used mainly in ser menester.^[14][15]

Covarrubias in 1611 traced it to menos “less”, the thing one lacks,^[16] and Autoridades reported this view in 1734.^[15] It added the plural senses “bodily needs” and, in popular speech, “tools of a trade”.^[15] In 1846 Domínguez called the sense “employment” no longer used,^[17] yet the DLE now gives it, mostly in the plural, as the second sense.^[4] Regionally, Leonese uses it for a sewing basket and for housework,^[18] and Dominican Spanish for a useful object.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has a menester “he needs”.^[11][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the earliest text in an original copy, uses fueren menester “are needed”.^[11]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses the short form mester.^[13]
• 1490 – first record of the derivative menesteroso “needy”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin penuria, egestas and indigentia.^[20]
• 1527 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from menos “less”.^[16]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the plural senses “bodily needs” and “tools of a trade”.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin ministerium.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. need or lack of something; mostly in ser menester “to be necessary”: Será menester avisar al médico.^[4][14]
2. (usually in the plural) A habitual occupation or task.^[4][1]
3. (in the plural) Bodily needs.^[4]
4. (in the plural, colloquial) The tools or things needed for a trade or other use.^[4]

Word family

• menesteroso

Related words

• ministerio
• menestral
• ministril
• menestra
• ministro
• mester
• Latin ministerium
• French métier

Usage notes

Haber menester algo means “to need something”, and the colloquial no haber menester andadores “to manage on one's own, need no help”.^[4] The Old Spanish short form survives in the literary term mester de clerecía, the learned poetry of medieval clerics.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 295
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. menester
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. menester
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. menester
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 5, 574
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mester
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. menester
12. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 346
13. ^ 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. menester
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. menester
15. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 540
16. ^ 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. 1129
17. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1180
18. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. menester
19. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. menester
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 379
21. ^ 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. menester
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 694
23. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. mester