ministro

Forms

ministro m (plural ministros, feminine ministra, feminine plural ministras)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin minister (“servant, attendant; subordinate”).^[2][3][1][4] The inherited word from the same family is menester, from ministerium (“service, office”), of which ministerio is the learned doublet.^[2]

The Latin word is formed from minus (“less”) with the comparative suffix seen in magister (“master”), from Proto-Italic *minosteros.^[1][5] The Latin words for servant and master were a pair as against the master;^[6][7] Gómez de Silva glosses the sense as “lesser, inferior”.^[6][7] Segura Munguía compares minor, minuō and minimus.^[4]

The same Latin word is Catalan ministre, French ministre, Italian ministro and Romanian ministru;^[1][6][8] French borrowed it about 1120.^[1][6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first primary record is the plural ministros in the Becerro de Benevívere, about 1220–1230;^[9][2] Corominas dates the word 1220–1250.^[9][2] In Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275) the word means one who serves in an office: Judas went to the princes and ministros dela ley, the officers of the Law.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Latin minister meant a servant or attendant, a priest's assistant, and an agent or instrument;^[6][4] Church Latin used it for the servants of God.^[6][4] Medieval Latin applied it to royal court officials and other public officers.^[11] Old Spanish used it for anyone who serves in an office; in the Americas the conquerors called themselves the emperor's menistros in 1527, and the friars were ministros del santo evangelio.^[10][12]

Covarrubias (1611) explained it as one who serves another, and noted that the heads of some religious orders took the title out of humility.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1734) gives the servant, the judge or officer of government, the bailiffs and constables who carry out a judge's orders, and the prelate of a Trinitarian convent.^[14] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 defines the head of a department of state, responsible for his branch under the constitution, the sense that leads today.^[15][3]

In Mexico and Paraguay a ministro is a judge of the Supreme Court.^[16] In Leonese ministro is the bailiff who carries out the mayor's or judge's orders, and also a collector of fines.^[17] Spanish lent the word to Tagalog and Chavacano.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1220–1230 – ministros in the Becerro de Benevívere.^[9]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria speaks of the ministros dela ley.^[10]
• 1272 – the first record in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[18]
• 1527 – the first record from the Americas, in Nicaragua, spelt menistros.^[12]
• 1611 – Covarrubias notes the title of the heads of some religious orders.^[13]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the judge and the officers of justice.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy defines the head of a department of state.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A minister: a member of the government in charge of one of the departments of state: La ministra de Sanidad visitó el hospital.^[3][1]
2. A person who holds an office or performs a ministerio; a minister of religion.^[3][19]
3. A diplomat of a set rank, below an ambassador (ministro plenipotenciario).^[3][19]
4. (Mexico, Paraguay) A judge of the Supreme Court.^[3][16]
5. An envoy sent by another person.^[3]
6. In some religious orders, the superior of a convent; among the Jesuits, the religious who manages the household of a house or college.^[3]
7. (dated, regional) A bailiff or any minor officer of justice.^[3][17]

Word family

• ministrable
• exministro

Related words

• ministerio
• menester
• administrar
• suministrar
• ministril
• Latin minister

Usage notes

The feminine is ministra;^[20][1] Bénaben notes that la ministro was also used for a woman minister.^[20][1] Primer ministro is the head of a government.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. menester
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. ministro
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. ministre
7. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. ministro
8. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. ministre
9. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ministro
10. ^ 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. ministro
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ a b 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. menistro
13. ^ 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. 1137
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 572
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 705
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. ministro
17. ^ a b 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. ministro
18. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ministro
20. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. ministro
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ministro