nos

Forms

nos m pl or f pl^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin nōs (“we, us”), the plural of ego (“I”), and Old Spanish nos has the same form.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary traces it to the Latin accusative and to the dative nōbīs.^[1]

The same pronoun is Portuguese nos, Galician nos, Catalan nos, Sardinian nos and French nous.^[4][5] Medieval texts often have mos, which Meyer-Lübke and García de Diego attribute to the influence of me; the form lives on in popular speech.^[5][4] Nehama records its replacement by Ladino mos.^[6]

The Latin pronoun continues Proto-Italic *nōs (“we, us”), from the PIE accusative Proto-Indo-European *nōs; Albanian na goes back to the same form.^[7] According to de Vaan the stressed accusative had already replaced the old nominative in Proto-Italic.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the pronoun to about 950.^[2] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) it is still a subject: the moneylenders Rachel and Vidas say „Nós huebos avemos en todo de ganar algo” “we need to make a profit in everything”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish nos served as subject, as object and after prepositions;^[9] Alfonso X's prose uses it in all three cases.^[9] As a subject and after prepositions it was replaced by nosotros, recorded from 1251.^[10] Alfonso X also uses it of himself as king: nos rey don Alffonso in his book of chess of 1283.^[9]

Autoridades still treats nos as the same as nosotros and records its use by kings, princes and prelates for themselves, even when one person speaks.^[11] The Academy noted in 1869 that this nos took singular nouns and was still used in documents of church courts.^[12] By 1917 the use with prepositions (venga a nos el tu reino, ruega por nos) was called old-fashioned.^[13] Moliner also records nos for me when a writer speaks of himself out of modesty.^[14] Across Latin America entre nos means “between ourselves, confidentially”.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 950 – first record, according to the BDELC.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses nos as a subject.^[8]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has the variant mos.^[8]
• 1251 – nosotros is first recorded.^[10]
• 1283 – Alfonso X writes nos rey don Alffonso in his book of chess.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the use by kings and prelates.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, the Latin plural of ego.^[16]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (unstressed, direct or indirect object) us, to us: Nos esperaron en la puerta.^[3][1]
2. (reflexive and reciprocal) ourselves, each other: Nos conocimos en Sevilla.^[3][17]
3. (archaic) We; still used of themselves by kings, popes and bishops (the royal we).^[3][1]
4. Used of an indefinite person that includes the speaker.^[3]
5. (chiefly written) Me, used by an author of himself.^[3][14]

Word family

• nuestro
• nosotros

Usage notes

Nos goes before a finite verb and is attached to imperatives, infinitives and gerunds (dinos, para vernos); a first-person plural form loses its final -s before it: sentémonos.^[18][14] In Mexican popular speech -nos replaces the ending -mos of verbs (teníanos, estábanos).^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nos
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. nos
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4617
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. nos
6. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. nos
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. nos
9. ^ a b c d 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. nos
10. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 95
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 540
13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1202
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nos
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. nos
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 697
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. nos
18. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. nos
19. ^ Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (2015), Obras completas, vol. 12: 1936–1940 III, ed. Miguel D. Mena, Santo Domingo: Ministerio de Cultura, p. 49