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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word natural

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1140 Cantar de mio Cid More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Latin naturalis
Ultimate origin
Latin nāscor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nāscor
Latin nātūra
English nature
French nature
German Natur
Italian natura
Latin nātūrālis
French naturel
Italian naturale
Spanish natural
From the same root
Latin ēnāscor ← nāscor
Latin innāscor ← nāscor
Latin nātiō ← nāscor
Latin nātus ← nāscor
Latin renāscor ← nāscor
Latin nātūrāliter ← nātūrālis
Latin supernātūrālis ← nātūrālis
Spanish naturalmente ← nātūrālis
French naturellement ← naturel
Italian naturalmente ← naturale

Pronunciation

  • /natuˈɾal/, [na.t̪uˈɾal][1]

Forms

natural m or f (masculine and feminine plural naturales)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nātūrālis (“by birth; natural”), a learned word.[1][2][3] Corominas dates it, like natura, to about 1140.[3]

The Latin adjective is formed on nātūra (“conditions of birth; nature”) with -ālis, the noun itself being formed on nāscor (“to be born”).[4][1] De Vaan traces the verb to *gnāsk- and *ǵnh₁-sk-e/o- (“to be born”).[5]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Portuguese natural, French naturel, Italian naturale and Romanian natural.[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) calls Martín Antolínez el burgalés natural “the native of Burgos”;[7] Menéndez Pidal glosses this use as “by origin or lineage”.[8][9] The poem also speaks of the Cid's señor natural, the lord to whom one is bound by birth, and of his fijas naturales “his own daughters”.[9] The first text in the CDH without a later copy is the Semejanza del mundo (c. 1223), on the curso natural of the planets.[8]

Semantic evolution

In medieval Spanish the word expressed above all the bond created by birth: a señor natural was the lord of the land where one was born, and Menéndez Pidal quotes the Partidas on the kinds of naturaleza that bind people.[9][2] Alfonso X's Lapidario already uses it for what belongs to nature.[7] Covarrubias recorded the noun “character, inclination” (hombre de buen natural), the hijo natural, a child neither legitimate nor a bastard, and the native of a place, and set natural against artificial.[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the instinct of animals.[11]

In the Americas naturales was from the first the word for the native inhabitants: in 1528 in Santo Domingo for the king's subjects, and later for the Indians.[12] In Guatemala and Ecuador the word is still used for indigenous people, and in Ecuador it is what they call themselves.[13][2] In the Philippines a hijo natural was one of indigenous parents on both sides, as opposed to a mestizo.[2][1] Modern technical senses include the musical note without sharp or flat, the bullfighter's pass made with the left hand, and the calendar day, día natural.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has el burgalés natural and señor natural.[8][9][3]
  • c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo speaks of the planets' curso natural.[8]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for what belongs to nature.[7]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin naturalis and nativus.[14]
  • 1528 – first record from the Americas: the king's súbditos y naturales in Santo Domingo.[12]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records the noun “character” and the hijo natural.[10]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the instinct of animals.[11]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. naturalis”.[15]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to nature, or in keeping with the nature of things.[2][1]
  2. native of a place: Es natural de Cádiz.[2][1]
  3. As found in nature, without mixture or processing: zumo de naranja natural.[2][1]
  4. Of a person, unaffected and spontaneous.[2][16]
  5. Of a thing, imitating nature faithfully.[2]
  6. Normal, to be expected: Es natural que estés cansado.[2][1]
  7. Produced by the forces of nature alone, as opposed to supernatural or miraculous.[2]
  8. (historical) Of a lord, having vassals, or entitled to lordship by lineage.[2][1]
  9. Of a period of days, counted by the calendar, working days or not.[2][1]
  10. (music) Of a note, natural, neither sharp nor flat.[2][1]
  11. Of a child, born to unmarried parents; illegitimate.[1][10]
  12. (Ecuador, euphemistic) Indigenous; the name indigenous people give themselves.[2][1]

Noun

  1. A native or local of a place.[1][11]
  2. A person's temperament, character or inclination: Tiene un natural alegre.[2][1]
  3. (bullfighting) A pass made with the muleta in the left hand, without the sword.[2][1]

Word family

  • antinatural
  • naturalismo
  • naturalista
  • naturalizar
  • naturalmente
  • sobrenatural
  • naturalidad

Usage notes

Al natural means “without artifice or processing” (fruit al natural), and in heraldry a flower or animal in its natural colours.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. natural
  3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nacer
  4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. nātūrālis
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. naturel
  7. ^ 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. natural
  8. ^ 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. natural
  9. ^ a b c d Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. natural
  10. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1159
  11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 650
  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. natural
  13. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. natural
  14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 385
  15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 733
  16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. natural

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Natural.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/natural. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·