nueve

Forms

nueve (invariable numeral; as a noun, m, plural nueves)^[1] Old Spanish has nuef beside nueve (also written nueue, nuebe), and Leonese texts have noue.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin novem (“nine”), Old Spanish nueve, also nuef.^[5][6][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese nove, Galician nove, Asturian nueve, Catalan nou, Occitan nòu, French neuf, Italian nove and Romanian nouă.^[7][8][1]

novem goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”); its final -m in place of the expected -n is due to septem (“seven”) and decem (“ten”).^[9][10][1] The older ending is still seen in nōnus (“ninth”).^[1] Cognates include Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun) and Old English nigon, the ancestor of nine.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the form nuef: „Una niña de nuef años a ojo se parava” “a girl of nine years came into sight”.^[2][5] The form nueve is in a fuero of 1221, fata cabo de nueve dias “until the end of nine days”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Berceo uses the numeral for the nine months of Christ in the womb.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades described nine as the last number written with a single figure and as the square of three.^[12] By 1869 the Academy also recorded it as an ordinal in dates (hoy estamos a nueve) and as the playing card with nine pips.^[13] The 1884 edition added the hours, las nueve.^[14]

In Colombia medias nueves is a light mid-morning snack.^[15] In baseball in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, nueve ceros is a game the winners finish without allowing a run.^[16] The numeral passed into the languages of the Philippines, as Tagalog nuwebe.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has nuef (in a 14th-century copy).^[2][5]
• 1221 – the form nueve appears in a fuero of Villavicencio.^[2]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo spells it nuebe.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario counts nine stars in the constellation of Orion.^[17]
• 1589 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives only its Latin equivalent, novem.^[19]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as the last single-figure number.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the sense “nine o'clock”.^[14]

Meanings

Numeral

1. nine: eight plus one: Compramos nueve sillas.^[6][1]
2. ninth, in a series or in dates: el nueve de mayo.^[6]

Noun

1. The number nine, and the digit 9 that represents it.^[6][1]
2. A playing card with nine pips.^[6]
3. (in the feminine plural) Nine o'clock: Abren a las nueve.^[6]

Word family

• noveno
• novena
• novecientos

Related words

• noventa
• noviembre
• nono
• Latin novem
• Portuguese nove

Usage notes

Nueve corto and nueve largo are the military names of two 9 mm cartridges and of the weapons made for them.^[6]

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 e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. nueve
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. nueve
4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. novem
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nueve
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. nueve
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. novem
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. 5, 971
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. novem
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 494
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 526
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 689
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 542
14. ^ 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. 745
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nueve
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. nueve
17. ^ 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. nueve
18. ^ 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. nueve
19. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1168