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orgullo

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word orgullo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1194–1211 Liber regum (Cronicón Villarense), in the form orgüello More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Catalan orgull
Ultimate origin
Frankish *urgōlī

Pronunciation

  • /oɾˈɡuʝo/, [oɾˈɣ̞u.ʝo], /oɾˈɡuʎo/[1]

Forms

orgullo m (plural orgullos)[1] Old Spanish also had orgüello, argullo and orgul;[2][3] argullo is the form Nebrija used.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Catalan orgull, which is from Frankish *urgōlī (“excellence”), an abstract noun from the adjective *urgōl (“distinguished, excellent”), recorded in Old High German urguol.[2][4][5][6] Wiktionary instead has the Catalan word inherited from Vulgar Latin *orgollium.[1]

Corominas shows that the word is a loan: neither the /ʎ/ nor the /u/ is the regular Castilian outcome of a stressed open o followed by -li-, which would have given *orgojo, and only Catalan turns open o into u before a palatal, as in ull (“eye”) and vull (“I want”).[2][4] The Catalan form orgull also turns up in the Primera Crónica General.[2] The same Frankish word gave French orgueil, Occitan orguelh and Italian orgoglio; old Catalan preferred ergull.[2][7] Portuguese orgulho also came from Catalan.[8]

The Germanic adjective is recorded only in Old High German, and Corominas takes it to have been a word of only some German dialects, among them the Low German of the Franks.[2] Meyer-Lübke considered, as unlikely, a Visigothic source for the Spanish and Portuguese words;[2] Corominas rules it out, because the Gothic form of the prefix ur- was uz-.[2] Older guesses derived the word from Ancient Greek ὀργή (orgḗ, “anger”) or from Latin arguō (“to argue”).[9] The Academy in 1884 took it from the Italian word.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is older than the noun: urgulloso is in the Cantar de mio Cid, and a Dompnus Guterius Urguioso appears in a charter of 1179.[2][4] The noun is first found as orgüello in the Cronicón Villarense (Liber regum) at the beginning of the 13th century.[2][3] Alfonso X's prose of 1254 has the short form orgul in the phrase de grant orgul “of great pride”.[11]

Semantic evolution

Corominas finds the word less common in the Middle Ages than today, and less old and usual than its native synonyms loçanía and ufanía.[2] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as eager, almost furious zeal in getting something done.[9] Autoridades gave “haughtiness of heart”, and also “liveliness and vigour in moving or acting”, quoting Ercilla's Vienen con grande orgullo y bizarría “they come with great pride and gallantry”.[12] The Academy's 1884 edition defined it as arrogance and excessive self-regard, which may be excused when it springs from noble causes.[10]

Today's DLE puts first the positive sense of satisfaction at one's own achievements or at something one is part of, before arrogance and self-esteem.[5] With a capital, Orgullo, short for orgullo gay, is the name of the LGBT Pride festival.[1] The verb enorgullecer entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884, probably on the model of enorgueillir.[2] Tagalog and Papiamentu borrowed the word.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1140 – the derivative urgulloso in the Cantar de mio Cid.[4][2]
  • 1179 – the personal name Urguioso in a charter of Eslonza.[2]
  • 1194–1211 – orgüello in the Liber regum.[3][2]
  • 1254 – orgul in the prose of Alfonso X.[11]
  • c. 1270 – argullo in the Historia troyana, the BDELC's first date.[4][2]
  • 14th century – orgullo in Juan Ruiz and Juan Manuel.[2]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija has argullo and argulloso.[13]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias derives the word from Greek or Latin.[9]
  • 1737 – Autoridades gives the senses “haughtiness” and “vigour”.[12]
  • 1884 – the Academy derives it from Italian and admits enorgullecer.[10][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. pride: satisfaction at one's own achievements or abilities, or at something one feels part of: Hablaba de su pueblo con orgullo.[5][1]
  2. arrogance, vanity, an excessive opinion of oneself.[5][1]
  3. self-esteem, self-respect: No quiso pedir ayuda por orgullo.[5][1]
  4. A person or thing that one is proud of: La nueva biblioteca es el orgullo del barrio.[5][1]

Word family

  • orgulloso
  • enorgullecer
  • Catalan orgull
  • Portuguese orgulho
  • French orgueil

Usage notes

Orgullo with a capital is the Pride festival, short for orgullo gay.[1] In the Canaries orgullo de Tenerife is the red taginaste, a plant; it is recorded in 1911, in English, as “Pride of Teneriffe”.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 296
  3. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. orgullo
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. orgullo
  5. ^ a b c d e f 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. orgullo
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. urgōli
  7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 112
  8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2409
  9. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1178
  10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 765
  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), p. s.v. orgullo
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 55
  13. ^ 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. orgullo
  14. ^ Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. orgullo

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Orgullo.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/orgullo. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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