obediente

Forms

obediente m or f (masculine and feminine plural obedientes)^[1] Berceo uses the apocopated obedïent, and Old Spanish texts also have obdient and obidientes.^[2][3] Sixteenth-century texts from Mexico write obidiente and ubidiente.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin oboediēns (“obedient”), the present participle of oboediō (“to obey”).^[5][6][1][7] The DRAE of 2001 describes it as the old present participle of obedecer, a verb also taken from Latin.^[8][6] The Latin verb is a derivative of audiō (“to hear”), with the prefix ob-.^[6][1] By that analysis Latin would have been expected to give a form with long u.^[1] Wiktionary reports the theory that the legal associations of the word kept an archaic spelling with ⟨oe⟩.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), which fines a shepherd por que fue rebelle et no obediente al conçeio “because he was rebellious and not obedient to the council”.^[2] The BDELC dates the word to 1220–1250, the time of Berceo, who uses obedïent in the Vida de San Millán and the Sacrificio de la misa.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In 13th-century texts the word describes obedience to a father, a bishop or a law: in the Poridat de poridades a king who makes his realm obediente a la ley deserves to reign.^[2] Alfonso X's Lapidario applies it to iron, which the magnet draws to itself “obedient”.^[9] His General Estoria already analyses obedientes as Latin ob and audientes “hearing”.^[9] Nebrija gives Latin morigerus and audiens as its equivalents.^[10]

The negative desobediente is recorded from 1495.^[6] The Diccionario de Autoridades treated obediente as the active participle of obedecer, for one who promptly does what he is ordered.^[11] From 1817 the Academy called it an adjective, and in 1884 it gave both senses still in the DLE, “who obeys” and “inclined to obey”.^[12][13][5]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has obediente.^[2]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán has obedïent (in an 18th-century copy).^[2]
• 1241 – a charter requires the clergy to be obedientes to the bishop.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario calls iron “obedient” to the magnet.^[9]
• 1272–1275 – the General Estoria explains the word through Latin ob and audientes.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija renders it by Latin morigerus and audiens.^[10]
• 1495 – first record of desobediente.^[6]
• 1536 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City, as obidiente.^[4]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as an adjective.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin obediens and the sense “inclined to obey”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. obedient: who obeys: Los alumnos fueron obedientes con la maestra.^[5][1]
2. Inclined to obey; dutiful, docile.^[5][14][1]

Word family

• desobediente
• obedientemente

Related words

• obedecer
• obediencia
• oír
• Latin oboediēns

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 (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. obediente
4. ^ 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. obediente
5. ^ 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. obediente
6. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obedecer
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 499
8. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. obediente
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. obediente
10. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 388
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 2
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 606
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obediente