obrero

Forms

obrero (feminine obrera, masculine plural obreros, feminine plural obreras)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write obreyro and hobrero.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin operārius (“labourer, workman”).^[3][4][5][1] Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed within Spanish as obra with the suffix -ero.^[1] Its learned doublet is operario, borrowed at the start of the 17th century.^[3][5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese obreiro, Galician obreiro, Asturian obreru, Catalan obrer, Old Occitan obrier, French ouvrier and Italian operaio.^[6][5][7]

The Latin word is an adjective, “working for hire”, formed from opera (“effort, work”), used as a noun for a labourer.^[8][1] This noun in turn belongs to opus (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os (“work”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC and DEMel date the word to 1056, with the plural obreros in a charter of the Cartulario de Santillana.^[3][2] In Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275) it means a man who works for pay: omnes obreros que labrassen por sus dineros “working men who would labour for their money”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used it for anyone who works, as in the Alfonsine history of Spain, where the caliph works with the master builders and the obreros on the bridge of Córdoba, and Berceo also used it for a devout servant of the Virgin.^[10][11] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a day labourer in building and in the fields, and gave the figurative sense of one who works for the salvation of souls, as well as the official who looked after the building works of a church, a dignity in some cathedrals.^[12] Medieval Latin operārius had the same sense of a church warden.^[13]

The Academy's dictionaries of 1884 and 1899 derived it from obra; the 1899 edition defined it as a person who works at a trade or with their hands.^[14][15] In the 19th and 20th centuries it became the word for the industrial worker, with the derivatives obrerismo and obrerista.^[3][4] In Honduras an obrero is a stud donkey.^[16]

Timeline

• 1056 – obreros in a charter of the Cartulario de Santillana.^[3][2]
• 1187–1189 – obreros in the documents of Fitero.^[2]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses it for men working for pay.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin operarius and mercenarius.^[17]
• 1544 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico, in the Gospel phrase about the many harvest and the few labourers.^[18]
• Early 17th century – the learned doublet operario.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the day labourer and the overseer of church works.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives the word from obra.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That works; also as a noun: una hormiga obrera.^[4][1]
2. Of or relating to workers or the working class.^[4][1]

Noun

1. A paid manual worker; a labourer: Los obreros terminaron el puente antes del invierno.^[4][19]
2. (obsolete) A person who does something.^[4]
3. (historical) The official in charge of the building works of a church or community; in some cathedrals a dignity.^[4][12]
4. (obsolete) A master builder.^[4]

Word family

• obrería
• obrerismo
• obrerista

Related words

• obra
• obrar
• operario
• Latin operārius
• French ouvrier

Usage notes

Obrero de villa means albañil “bricklayer”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. obrero
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obrar
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. obrero
5. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4696
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6072
7. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. obreru
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. obrero
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 531
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 8
13. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
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. 751
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 705
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. obrero
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 388
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. obrero
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. obrero