monasterio

Forms

monasterio m (plural monasterios)^[1] The usual Old Spanish form was monesterio, the spelling of the Cantar de mio Cid and of Nebrija, beside monasterio.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin monasterium, which is from Ancient Greek μοναστήριον (monastḗrion, “hermit's cell; monastery”).^[5][1][6] García de Diego calls the Spanish word a learned one.^[7] The Greek noun comes from μονάζω (monázō, “to live alone”), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”).^[1][6][8] Corominas treats it with the learned words under monje.^[9]

Popular Latin had a form Vulgar Latin *monisterium, which gave Old French mostier (today French moutier), Portuguese mosteiro and Galician mosteiro (earlier Old Galician-Portuguese moesteiro); the REW also puts Old Spanish monesterio under this variant.^[10][11][7] The learned word is Catalan monestir, French monastère and Italian monastero.^[10][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the word to 1030.^[9][12] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) the Cid gives money to the abbot of Cardeña and promises not to do a penny's worth of harm to the monesterio.^[13][2] The first hit in a contemporary manuscript is the Cortes of León of 1208, which protect the goods of churches and monasterios.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The Siete Partidas of Alfonso X already use the word for a house of monks, for any house of religious men or women, and for the community of monks.^[14] Covarrubias (1611) defines it as a religious house where people live in retirement and solitude.^[15] From 1869 the Academy's dictionary adds that a monastery is usually outside a town.^[16] From 1884 it also gives the Latin and Greek etymology.^[17] In Chile, Román noted in the early 20th century, monasterio was used for a house of nuns and convento for one of friars.^[18]

Timeline

• 1030 – the BDELC's first record.^[9]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has monesterio.^[13][2]
• 1208 – the Cortes of León have monasterios.^[13]
• 1256–1300 – the Siete Partidas use it for the house and the community of monks.^[14]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Monesterio de monges, Latin monasterium and coenobium.^[4]
• 1525 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as a house of retirement and solitude.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the Latin and Greek etymology.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monastery: a house, usually outside a town, where monks live in community: Pasó una semana de retiro en un monasterio del Pirineo.^[5][1]
2. A house of religious men or women, a convent.^[5]

Word family

• monasterial

Related words

• monástico
• monje
• cenobio
• Latin monasterium
• Portuguese mosteiro

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 355
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. monasterio
4. ^ 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. monasterio
5. ^ a b c 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. monasterio
6. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 470
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4420
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. monasterio
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. monje
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5656
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 471
13. ^ 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. monasterio
14. ^ 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. monasterio
15. ^ 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. 1144
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 517
17. ^ 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. 714
18. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 584
19. ^ 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. monasterio