oficio

Forms

oficio m (plural oficios)^[1] Old Spanish texts spell it oficio, ofiçio, officio and offiçio.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin officium (“service, function”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is a contraction of opificium, derived from opifex (“craftsman”), a compound of opus (“work”) and faciō (“to make, do”).^[3][4][6] The OLD analyses it instead as formed from ops (“power, resources”) with the verb and the suffix -ium, and Wiktionary also connects it with that noun.^[7][1] Corominas therefore treats it in the family of hacer.^[3]

In Latin the word meant first a service done for someone out of duty or kindness; it passed into public law for the duties of an office and into philosophy as the word for “duty”.^[7][8] Medieval Latin used it for an official, a monastic charge and a household or manorial office.^[9] The same Latin word is Italian ufficio.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word first in Berceo.^[3][4] The CDH has an earlier hit in a Spanish text of the Cortes of León dated 1208, where clergy who honour the cathedral por un oficio canonical “by a canonical office” are freed from tolls.^[10] In Berceo it means both the liturgy (the oficio that the singers begin in the Mass) and a person's task: in the Vida de San Millán a shepherd goes cumpliendo so oficio, sus ovejas guïando “doing his work, guiding his sheep”.^[10] The derivative oficiero is recorded even earlier, in 1206.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses the word for a regular occupation, a public post, the proper function of a thing and the daily prayers of the clergy.^[11] Nebrija gives Latin officium and munus as its equivalents.^[12] Cervantes uses it for the work proper to a person or a thing and for the Santo Oficio, the Inquisition.^[13]

Autoridades (1737) defines it first as the work each person must do according to his station, then as the function of a thing and the trade of craftsmen such as cabinetmakers and smiths.^[14] The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century add the official letter between government offices and the rooms of the palace where the royal table was prepared; in 1869 the first sense became the habitual occupation by which one earns a living.^[15][16] In much of Latin America oficio is also a size of paper for official documents, and in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela a household chore.^[17][18]

Timeline

• 1206 – the derivative oficiero is recorded.^[3]
• 1208 – a Spanish text of the Cortes of León speaks of a oficio canonical.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses the word, Corominas's first record.^[4][3]
• 1250–1284 – Alfonso X's prose has the senses “occupation”, “post”, “function” and “divine office”.^[11]
• 1526 – first record from the Americas, in Santa Marta.^[19]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines the word and its trade sense.^[14]
• 1869 – the Academy defines it as the habitual occupation by which one lives.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin officium.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. An occupation, a habitual line of work.^[5][1]
2. A post or cargo, a ministry.^[5]
3. A trade or craft that needs manual skill: Aprendió el oficio de carpintero con su tío.^[5][21]
4. Skill and mastery gained by practising an activity: Es una actriz con mucho oficio.^[5]
5. The proper function of a thing.^[5]
6. An official written communication between public administrations.^[5][21]
7. A pantry next to the kitchen where the table service is prepared.^[5]
8. (religion) The divine office, the daily prayers of the clergy;^[5][1] oficio de difuntos is the office for the dead.^[5][1]
9. (obsolete) An office, a place where employees work.^[5]
10. (in the plural) Church services, especially those of Holy Week.^[5]
11. (Latin America) A size of paper used for official documents.^[17]
12. (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) A household chore.^[17][18]

Word family

• oficial
• oficiar
• oficioso
• oficiero
• oficiante
• oficiosidad

Related words

• oficina
• hacer
• obra
• Latin officium

Usage notes

Buenos oficios are effective efforts on someone's behalf.^[5] De oficio means “officially”, and in law it describes acts done by the court without a party's request, as in abogado de oficio.^[22][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 297
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. oficio
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. oficio
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
11. ^ a b 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)
12. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 388
13. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 21
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 610
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 548
17. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
18. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 708
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 754