nunca

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish nunqua, inherited from Latin numquam (“never”).^[2][3][1] Old Spanish texts write it numqua and nuncua as well, beside the form that prevailed.^[4][5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese nunca, Galician nunca, Old French nonque and Old Occitan nonca; Catalan nunca was taken from Spanish.^[6][7]

The Latin word is formed from ne (“not”) and umquam (“ever”).^[2][8][1] De Vaan explains the second part as Proto-Italic *kʷum with the particle -quam, the first element having replaced Proto-Indo-European *kʷom (“when”) on the model of ubī.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), where the angel Gabriel tells the sleeping hero: ¡Cavalgad, Cid, el buen Campeador, ca nuncua en tan buen punto cavalgó varón! “Ride, Cid, good Campeador, for never did a man ride out at so good an hour!”.^[5][2] The sense is the one the word still has, “at no time”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed: Alfonso X's prose uses nunqua for “at no time” and “not once”, and already reinforces it as nunqua iamas.^[10] Nebrija rendered it by Latin nunquam, and Covarrubias defined it as “at no time, never”.^[11][12] Autoridades classed it as an adverb of time and recorded nunca jamás as an emphatic form of the negation.^[13] In questions, comparisons and clauses that depend on a negative it can lose its negative force and mean “ever”.^[14][1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid writes nuncua.^[5][2]
• 1208 – nunca in the Cortes de León.^[5]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses nunqua and the emphatic nunqua iamas.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it with Latin nunquam.^[11]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin nunquam.^[12]
• 1734 – Autoridades records nunca jamás.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin nunquam.^[15]

Meanings

Adverb

1. never, at no time: Nunca he estado en Lima.^[3][14][1]
2. Not once, not a single time.^[3]
3. (in questions, comparisons and after a negative) ever: Es el mejor pan que he probado nunca.^[14][1]

Related words

• no
• ni
• Latin numquam
• Portuguese nunca

Usage notes

Like nada and nadie, nunca can stand before the verb on its own or after it, and then no must come before the verb: nunca lo dijo and no lo dijo nunca mean the same.^[14] The emphatic nunca jamás has been recorded since Alfonso X.^[10][13][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. no
3. ^ a b c d 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. nunca
4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. nunca
5. ^ 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. nunca
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5995
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. numquam
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. numquam
9. ^ 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. umquam
10. ^ 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. nunca
11. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 387
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. 1169
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 694
14. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nunca
15. ^ 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. 746