nada

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish nada, inherited from Latin nāta (“born”), the feminine past participle of nāscor (“to be born”).^[2][3][1][4] The participle stood in the phrase rēs nāta (“a thing born”), Old Spanish cosa nada (10th century), which was used in negative sentences: “no born thing was seen” came to mean “nothing was seen”, and the participle alone took on the negative sense.^[3][5][6] Corominas adds that the Latin phrase already meant “the matter in question”, and that the shift was probably helped by nadie, older nadi, from the plural nātī (“born ones”) in phrases meaning “no persons born did it”.^[3][4] Wiktionary sees the phrase as an extension of nēmō nātus (“not a soul, nobody born”).^[1]

The noun of the phrase, not the participle, became the word for “nothing” elsewhere: French rien, Catalan res and Galician ren come from the accusative rem.^[1][7][8] Spanish and Galician also had nado for “born” and “nobody”.^[4] The Latin participle goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵnh₁-to- (“born”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1074.^[3] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) uses it with a negation: the people of Burgos hide from the Cid ca no l'osan dezir nada “for they dare not say anything to him”.^[10][11] In the Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) it already stands alone as a noun: Ueer lo é otra uegada si es uertad o si es nada “I shall look once more to see whether it is true or nothing”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the oldest texts nada goes with non (nada non perderá), and Lanchetas explains how a word that once meant “born” became negative by standing next to a negation until it could deny by itself.^[11][12] Alfonso X's prose already has the senses “very little” (lo non tiene por nada “he thinks nothing of him”) and “in no way”.^[13] The compound nonada “a trifle” dates from the 15th century and nadería from the end of the 16th.^[3]

Autoridades separates the noun, “non-being, the total lack of any being”, sometimes used with the masculine article, from the pronoun that denies things as opposed to persons, the adverb (Quevedo's nada altanero “not at all haughty”) and the sense “a short while” in nada ha que vino.^[14][15] Terreros has the theological phrase Dios sacó las cosas de la nada.^[16] The Academy gave the Latin source, res nata, from 1884, and called the word an indefinite pronoun from 1899.^[17][18]

In questions it can mean “anything”.^[19] In much of Latin America por nada answers a thank-you, recorded in Puerto Rico in 1917, and mi peor es nada is a joking name for one's partner.^[20][21][22] Cuervo criticised the Bogotá phrase a cada nada “every moment”.^[23]

Timeline

• 10th century – the phrase cosa nada.^[3]
• 1074 – first record of nada, in Corominas's dating.^[3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it with a negation.^[10][11]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos uses it as a noun.^[10]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes, the first record in a text without a later copy.^[10]
• 15th century – nonada “a trifle”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin nil, nihil and nihilum.^[24][25]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades describes the noun, the pronoun and the adverb.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology res nata.^[17]
• 1917 – por nada as a reply to thanks in Puerto Rico.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) nothingness: the total absence of any being, a notion of philosophy (filosofía).^[2][1]
2. A feeling of emptiness: Después de la noticia sintió una nada enorme.^[2]
3. A state of complete want: Levantó su negocio desde la nada.^[2]

Pronoun

1. nothing, not anything: No compraron nada en la feria.^[2][1]
2. Anything at all, especially something unimportant: Se enfada por nada.^[2][19]
3. No amount, often with de and a mass noun: No queda nada de arroz.^[2]
4. A small amount, often of time: Lo vi hace nada en la plaza.^[2][6]

Adverb

1. not at all, before an adjective or adverb: El examen no era nada difícil.^[2][1]

Interjection

1. (colloquial) Short for de nada, “you're welcome”.^[1]

Word family

• nadería
• nonada
• anonadar

Related words

• nadie
• nacer
• nato
• French rien
• Catalan res

Usage notes

After the verb nada needs a negation (no veo nada), before it none (nada veo).^[6] Moliner notes that it always keeps its own stress.^[19] In casual speech it is often cut to ná, a reduction that Henríquez Ureña found weaker in Mexico than elsewhere.^[1][26] Ahí es nada is said, by antiphrasis, to stress how large something is.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. nada
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nadie
4. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4561
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 481
6. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. nada
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rien
8. ^ 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. 7, 269
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. nada
11. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 360
12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 511
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. nada
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 644
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 645
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. 731
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 686
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nada
20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. nada
21. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1999), Vocabulario de Puerto Rico, critical ed. by Humberto López Morales, Madrid: Arco/Libros (1st ed. 1937), p. 260
22. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 325
23. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1914), Apuntaciones críticas sobre el lenguaje bogotano, 6th ed., París: A. & R. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. § 379
24. ^ 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. nada
25. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 385
26. ^ Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (2015), Obras completas, vol. 12: 1936–1940 III, ed. Miguel D. Mena, Santo Domingo: Ministerio de Cultura, p. 64