menos

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin minus (“less”), and Old Spanish menos has the same form in the earliest texts.^[2][3][1][4] The Latin adverb is the neuter of minor (“smaller, less”), which served as the comparative of parvus (“small”) and survives in Spanish as menor.^[5][2][6]

The same Latin word gives Portuguese menos, Catalan menys, Occitan mens, French moins and Italian meno;^[7][8] Old Portuguese had meos.^[7][8]

De Vaan traces the Latin comparative to Proto-Italic *minōs (“less”) and a Proto-Indo-European comparative *meih₁-iōs- (“less”), whose shape was influenced by the nasal present seen in minuō (“to lessen”); related forms include Ancient Greek μείων (meíōn, “smaller”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses of the late 10th century already have the word.^[10][2] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) it is used in the compound verb menos fallar “to find missing, to miss”: „más de quinze de los sos menos non fallaron” “they found no more than fifteen of their men missing”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

The comparative sense “less” was there from the start, and the Cid also uses menos for subtraction, as in quatro mill menos treynta “four thousand less thirty”.^[12] Old Spanish a menos de meant “without”; the Academy marked it as old in 1817.^[12][13][14] The conjunction a menos que “unless” appears in Alfonso X's prose, but the Academy only recorded it in 1843.^[13][15]

Covarrubias notes the phrase ni más ni menos “exactly, neither more nor less” and the compounds menoscabo, menoscabar and menosprecio, and Autoridades adds the sense “except” (todo menos eso).^[16][17] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 also records it as a masculine noun for the minus sign.^[18] Moliner notes that the word is stressed except between two numbers.^[19] The purist Baralt condemned constructions such as no es nada menos que sabio as French.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses record the word.^[10][2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses menos fallar “to miss” and menos for subtraction.^[11][12]
• 1259 – Alfonso X's prose has the conjunction a menos que “unless”.^[13]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary renders Latin minus as “por menos” and saltem as “por a lo menos”.^[6]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records ni más ni menos.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “less” and “except”.^[17]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary first lists a menos que.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin minus.^[22]
• 1917 – Alemany records the noun “minus sign”.^[18]

Meanings

Adverb

1. less: before an adjective or adverb, to a lower degree than something else: Este camino es menos largo que el otro.^[3][1]
2. After a verb, less often, less intensely or for a shorter time: Ahora duerme menos que antes.^[3]
3. With the definite article, forming the relative superlative: least: Es la menos cara de todas.^[3][1]
4. Before a noun, fewer or less: Este año hay menos alumnos.^[3][1]

Preposition

1. except, but: Vinieron todos menos Luis.^[1][19][17]
2. (mathematics) minus: Nueve menos dos son siete.^[1][19]

Noun

1. (mathematics) The minus sign (−).^[1][18]

Word family

• menoscabar
• menoscabo
• menospreciar
• menosprecio

Related words

• menor
• mínimo
• minoría
• Latin minus

Usage notes

Common phrases are al menos and por lo menos “at least”, and a menos que “unless”, followed by the subjunctive.^[3][15] Echar de menos “to miss” continues the older menos fallar of the Cid, and Cervantes still writes echar menos without de.^[12][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 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. menos
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. menos
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. menos
6. ^ a b 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. menos
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. minus
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. minus
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. menos
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. menos
12. ^ a b c d e Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 347
13. ^ a b c 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. menos
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 567
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 471
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. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 542
18. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1121
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. menos
20. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 433
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. menos
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. ^ 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. 738