o

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish o, inherited from Latin aut (“or”).^[2][1][3] The same Latin word is Portuguese ou, Galician ou, Catalan o, French ou, Italian o and Romanian au.^[4][3][1] Early texts also have the form Old Spanish u, for instance a Latin fragment of 1182 and the Fuero de Madrid.^[5] Today u replaces it before a word beginning with /o/.^[6]

De Vaan traces the Latin word to Proto-Italic *auti or *aute, with Oscan auti, and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eu (“away”).^[7] Wiktionary gives *h₂ewti (“on the other hand”), from *h₂ew, and compares Ancient Greek αὖ (aû, “again”) and autem.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has it: „si convusco escapo sano o bivo” “if I come through this with you healthy or alive”.^[5] DICCA-XV reports the earliest record in the CORDE as 950–1000.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses it both to join two possibilities of which only one comes about and before each of two contrasting terms, as in o muere o fica paralitico “either he dies or is left paralysed”.^[9] Nebrija's Vocabulario of about 1495 renders it with Latin aut, vel, -ve, seu and sive.^[8] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 gave the etymology “Del lat. aut” and three senses: alternative, the repeated o … o … and equivalence (“that is”), which the DLE still lists in the same order.^[10][2] Between numbers it gives an approximate figure, and was traditionally written with an accent there.^[11] The combination y/o “and/or” is a calque of English and/or.^[12] Tagalog borrowed the word as o.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid: sano o bivo.^[5]
• 1182 – the form u in a Latin legal fragment.^[5]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses o and o … o ….^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario: “O conjuncion. aut. uel. ue. seu. siue.”^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. aut”.^[10]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. or: joins alternatives, showing difference, separation or a choice between people, things or ideas: ¿Prefieres té o café?^[2][1]
2. o … o …: either … or, before each of two or more contrasting terms: O te callas o te vas.^[2][1]
3. Or, that is, introducing an equivalent: la capital, o centro administrativo, del país.^[2]
4. Between numbers, about, roughly: tres o cuatro días.^[11]

Related words

• u
• Latin aut
• Portuguese ou

Usage notes

The same spelling is also the feminine name of the letter O, plural oes, as in no saber hacer la o con un canuto “to be unable to do the simplest thing”.^[2][1] A separate, obsolete adverb o “where”, from Latin ubi, is found in Old Spanish, as in Alfonso X's los logares … o se crian “the places where they grow”.^[2][13][9] Before a word beginning with /o/ or ⟨ho⟩ the conjunction becomes u: siete u ocho.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. o
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. aut
4. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 810
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. o
6. ^ a b 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. u
7. ^ 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 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. o
9. ^ 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. o
10. ^ 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. 749
11. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. o
12. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. y/o
13. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ubi