omnipotente

Forms

omnipotente m or f (masculine and feminine plural omnipotentes)^[1] Old Spanish often used the apocopated form omnipotent, in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, in Berceo and in the prose of Alfonso X.^[2][3][4] A text from Puebla of 1581 spells it onipotente.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin omnipotēns (“almighty”), a learned word that kept the Latin form.^[6][1][7] The Latin adjective is a compound of omnis (“all”) and potēns (“powerful”).^[8][1][7] The second part is the present participle of possum (“to be able”).^[9] DICCA-XV traces the verb in turn to potis (“master”).^[10] Wiktionary also notes that in Spanish it can be analysed as omni- and potente.^[1]

In Latin the word was poetic before it was Christian: Plautus and Lucretius apply it to the gods and Jupiter, and Christian Latin applied it to God.^[8][11][9] The same Latin word gave French omnipotent, already in 1080, and Italian onnipotente.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in a blessing: E Dios omnipotent te bendiga e te acresca “and may almighty God bless you and increase you”.^[2] The Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, in a 14th-century copy) has the full form omnipotente in a prayer to God.^[2]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the word was an epithet of God: Berceo writes of the Rey omnipotent “almighty King”, and Alfonso X's prose praises dios padre uerdadero omnipotent.^[2][3] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as an attribute given to God alone, quoting Nieremberg.^[12] The Academy's 1869 edition added that this holds only in the strict sense, and its 1884 edition gave the figurative sense “very powerful” and the Latin etymology for the first time.^[13][14]

Today the adjective can describe anyone or anything thought to be able to do everything, in general or in one field, and el Omnipotente is one of the names of God.^[6][15] Records from the Americas use it in the same ways, from a 1749 letter from Venezuela that prays al Omnipotente to a Mexican text of 1849.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Dios omnipotent in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy).^[2]
• c. 1215 – Dios omnipotente in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (in a 14th-century copy).^[2]
• 1220–1250 – the date of first record given by Segura Munguía and by the DCECH as DICCA-XV reports it.^[16][10]
• 1254 – the Judizios de las estrellas of Alfonso X call God omnipotent.^[3]
• 1499 – first record of the noun omnipotencia.^[16]
• 1581 – first record in the Americas, at Puebla, spelt onipotente.^[5]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades reserves it for God.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the figurative sense “able to do a great deal”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. omnipotent, almighty: able to do everything, in the strict sense an attribute of God alone: Los creyentes rezan a un Dios omnipotente.^[6][15][1]
2. (figurative) Very powerful; able to do a great deal in some sphere.^[6][15][17]
3. (as a noun, with capital) el Omnipotente: God.^[15][5]

Related words

• omnipotencia
• todopoderoso
• potente
• poder
• Latin omnipotens
• French omnipotent

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. omnipotente
3. ^ 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. omnipotente
4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. omnipotente
5. ^ a b c d 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. omnipotente
6. ^ 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. omnipotente
7. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 506
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. omnipotent
10. ^ a b 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. omnipotente
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 38
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 552
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. 760
15. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. omnipotente
16. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 508
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. omnipotente