novedad

Forms

novedad f (plural novedades)^[1] Old Spanish wrote nouedat, novedat, novidat and nobedad.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novitās (“newness, novelty”), continuing its accusative form.^[1][4][5] DICCA-XV calls it a borrowing from Latin.^[6] Corominas dates it to 1444, but DEMel has the Old Spanish form nouedat in Alfonso X's General estoria, of about 1275.^[7][2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese novidade, Galician novidade, Catalan novetat, Occitan novetat, Italian novità and Romanian noutate.^[1][8] Nascentes calls the Portuguese word semi-learned.^[9]

The Latin noun is formed from novus (“new”) with the suffix -tās.^[10][1] The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *nowo- and Proto-Indo-European *neuo- (“new, young”).^[11] Wiktionary suggests that the abstract noun may itself be as old as Proto-Indo-European.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's General estoria (about 1275) has nouedat.^[2] The earliest hit in the CDH, a translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem from after 1350, uses it for newness: en la novedat de la santa eglesia “in the newness of the holy Church”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In 1611 Covarrubias defined it as a new and unaccustomed thing, adding that it is usually dangerous because it changes old usage.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave three senses: the state of things newly made or seen, the change of things thought to be fixed, and figuratively the surprise that things never seen before cause.^[13] Terreros also gave the sense “news, report”, with French nouvelle as its equivalent.^[14] The Academy added “recent event, news” in 1843, and “change in someone's health”, with the phrase dar parte sin novedad “report that nothing has happened”, in 1869.^[15][16]

In the plural it came to mean goods in fashion.^[17] The army uses it for the report that a subordinate gives a superior on what has happened in a unit.^[4] In the Americas it is recorded from 1520, in Darién.^[18] The adjective novedoso “novel” is an Americanism.^[7] In the Dominican Republic, Peru and Bolivia the phrase ¡qué novedad! is used as a greeting.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – nouedat in Alfonso X's General estoria.^[2]
• after 1350 – novedat in a translation of Jacques de Vitry, the first hit in the CDH.^[3]
• 1444 – Corominas's date for the word.^[7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin novitas as its equivalent.^[6]
• 1520 – first record from the Americas, in Darién.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias warns that novelty is usually dangerous.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “newness”, “change” and “surprise”.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the sense “news”.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy adds a change in health and the phrase dar parte sin novedad.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin novitas.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. novelty, newness: the quality of being new (nuevo).^[4][1]
2. A new thing.^[4][1]
3. (usually in the plural) A fashion item (moda): las novedades de esta temporada.^[4]
4. A change in something.^[4]
5. A recent event that is reported; a piece of news.^[4][1]
6. (military) The report a subordinate gives a superior on what has happened in a unit or post.^[4]
7. (dated) The surprise caused by something not seen or heard before.^[4]

Word family

• novedoso

Related words

• nuevo
• innovar
• Latin novitās
• Portuguese novidade

Usage notes

Sin novedad means “as expected, without incident”.^[4][1] The older phrase hacer novedad meant “to cause surprise” or “to introduce a change”.^[4][15]

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 Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. novedad
3. ^ 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. novedad
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. novedad
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. novedad
6. ^ 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. novedad
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuevo
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. novetat
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. novidade
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. novitās
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. novus
12. ^ 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. 1167
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 683
14. ^ 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, 675
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 501
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 541
17. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. novedad
18. ^ 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. novedad
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. novedad
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 743