palabra

Forms

palabra f (plural palabras)^[1] The older forms parabla and paraula are still found in the Libro de Alexandre and the Libro de Apolonio, and paraula even in a Murcian text of 1341.^[2] Old Spanish texts often spell the word palaura;^[3][4] palabla and palaula also occur.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish parabla, inherited from Latin parabola (“comparison, simile; parable”), which was from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison, parable”), from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “to set side by side, compare”).^[2][5][6][1] The modern form arose from the Old Spanish one by metathesis of the liquids /r/ and /l/.^[1][7] The learned parábola is a doublet of the same Latin word.^[1][5]

The Latin word owed its spread to the Bible and Christian preaching, where it translated the parables and sayings of Scripture.^[8] The Latin word also rendered the Hebrew word for “parable” and “inspired speech”.^[2][8] Meyer-Lübke traced the double meaning “parable” and “word” to Hebrew through Greek, following Wackernagel, whose view Corominas thinks he reports inaccurately.^[9][2] In the Romance languages of the west it took the place of Latin verbum (“word”), which the Church had made the name of the Word of God.^[8][10]

The same word is Portuguese palavra, Galician palabra, Asturian pallabra, Aragonese parabra, Catalan paraula, French parole and Italian parola.^[9][1][11] Old Galician-Portuguese also had the less worn form Old Galician-Portuguese paravoa.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the formula sopiesse vera palabra “let him know for certain”, in the king's order that no one give the Cid lodging.^[12][13] In the Cid the word mostly means “what someone says, speech”: a estas palabras fabló introduces a reply.^[13][2] The first record without a later copy is a letter of the 13th century in which a vassal ouo palauras, had words, with another.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Romance passed from “comparison” to “phrase, saying”, then to “word”.^[2][5] The sense “phrase” was very common from the 12th to the 14th century; in Berceo the word can still mean “comparison”, and in the Libro de Alexandre “saying, maxim”.^[5][2] Alfonso X's prose already has the senses “word”, “the faculty of speech”, “eloquence” and “promise”.^[14]

Covarrubias in 1611 lists dar su palabra “to promise”, quebrar la palabra “to break one's word”, palabras mayores “insults” and the proverbs Palabras y plumas, el viento las lleva and A buen entendedor pocas palabras.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the theological sense, the Word of God, and the Academy kept “proverb, maxim” and “timbre of the voice” as obsolete senses.^[16][17] The sense “the right to speak in an assembly” (pedir la palabra) is in the Academy's dictionary from 1869.^[18]

The Spanish word was borrowed into French as palabre “palaver” and into Tagalog as palabra.^[1] In several Latin American countries mala palabra is a swear word.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – first record, in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[12][2][5]
• c. 1200 – palavras in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[12]
• c. 1220–1250 – first record of parlero “talkative”, from parlar.^[5]
• c. 1250 – the older form parabla.^[5]
• 1250–1284 – Alfonso X's prose uses it for “word”, “speech” and “promise”.^[14]
• 1341 – one of the last records of paraula, in a Murcian text.^[2]
• mid-15th century – the learned doublet parábola.^[5]
• 1495 – first record of palabrero “wordy”.^[5]
• 1515 – first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias rejects the derivation from parabola as barbarous, and lists the proverbs of the word.^[15]
• 1613 – first record of apalabrar, in Cervantes.^[5][2]
• 1869 – the Academy records the sense “right to speak in an assembly”.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. word: a unit of language, usually with a meaning of its own, set off by potential pauses in speech and by spaces in writing: Esta palabra viene del árabe.^[6][1]
2. The written form of a spoken word.^[6]
3. The faculty of speech: Del susto perdió la palabra.^[6][21]
4. eloquence, the gift of speaking well.^[6]
5. One's word, a pledge of good faith; a promise: Te doy mi palabra de que vendré.^[6][1]
6. The right or turn to speak in an assembly: pedir la palabra, tener la palabra.^[6]
7. (in negative sentences) Nothing at all: No le entendí ni palabra.^[6]
8. (obsolete) A saying, maxim; a parable.^[6]
9. (in the plural; religion) The words that form a sacrament.^[6]

Interjection

1. Used to vouch for the truth of what one says: “my word!”, “honestly!”.^[6][22]

Word family

• palabreo
• palabrero
• palabrería
• palabrota
• palabreja
• palabrita
• apalabrar

Related words

• parábola
• parlar
• parlamento
• parola
• Latin parabola
• French parole

Usage notes

Common phrases: en una palabra “in a word”, de palabra “by word of mouth”, palabra de honor “word of honour”, juego de palabras “pun”, palabras mayores “serious matters; insults”.^[1][15] Buenas palabras are courteous words or promises meant to please and persuade.^[6]

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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 345
3. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. palabra
4. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 316
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. palabra
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. palabra
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 518
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. parole
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6221
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. palavra
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4793
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. palabra
13. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 374
14. ^ 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. palabra
15. ^ 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. 1184
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 83
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 628
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 564
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. palabra
20. ^ 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. palabra
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. palabra
22. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. palabra