peso

Forms

peso m (plural pesos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish peso, inherited from Vulgar Latin *pēsum, from Latin pēnsum (“a quantity of wool to be spun; weight”).^[1][2][3] In Latin the word named the weight of wool given to a slave to spin in a day, and in the popular language it came to mean weight in general.^[2][4] Nascentes adds that it took the place of pondus (“weight”).^[5] The semi-learned pienso is its doublet.^[1] García de Diego dissents: against Meyer-Lübke he derives the noun from the verb pesar, which continues pensare.^[6][7]

The Latin noun is the neuter of the past participle of pendō (“to weigh, pay”), a verb that went from “to hang” to “to weigh out” and “to pay”.^[1][8] Most handbooks see in its root a variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to spin, weave”), de Vaan says.^[8]

The same word is Portuguese peso, Galician peso, Asturian pesu, Catalan pes, Occitan pes, French poids, Italian peso and Romanian păs (“grief”).^[9][1] The French spelling with ⟨d⟩ comes from a mistaken link with the Latin word for weight.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word 962.^[2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has it for the act of weighing: Martín Antolínez takes the 300 marks of silver sin peso, without weighing them.^[10][11] The Fuero de Madrid orders that all fish be sold by weight, a peso.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used the word for weight, for the weights of a balance, for a heavy thing and for the balance itself.^[12] In Berceo levar en peso meant to carry with care.^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as the instrument for weighing, and gave hombre de peso for a serious, weighty man.^[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1737) begins with weight as the natural heaviness of bodies.^[15]

The money sense grew from the weight of the coin.^[16] In 1884 the Academy defined the peso as an imaginary coin worth fifteen reales de vellón and as a Castilian silver coin weighing one ounce and worth eight reales, those worth ten being called pesos fuertes or duros.^[17] Pesos were counted in the Americas from the first decades: in 1520 in Darién, and in 1525 in Mexico City at 450 maravedís each.^[18] Today it is the currency of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and the Philippines.^[3] Its diminutive peseta was recorded in 1737.^[2] English took peso in the 1550s.^[19]

Modern Spanish uses peso for a weight class in boxing, for the shot in athletics, and figuratively for importance and for a burden.^[3][20][1] In the Dominican Republic and Bolivia pesos are banknotes.^[21]

Timeline

• 962 – the date of first record Corominas gives.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid, in a 14th-century copy, uses sin peso “without weighing”.^[10]
• 1211 – the first record in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[22]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the weight of a dose.^[12]
• 1520 – pesos as money in Darién.^[18]
• 1550s – English borrows peso for the Spanish coin.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records hombre de peso.^[14]
• 1737 – the diminutive peseta is first recorded.^[2]
• 1884 – the Academy defines the coins called peso.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) weight: the force with which the Earth, or another celestial body, attracts a body; the measure of this force.^[3][1]
2. The weight something must have by law or agreement: Ese saco no da el peso.^[3]
3. A weight of a balance or of a clock; a heavy object used to press or counterbalance.^[3][1]
4. A heavy thing; a burden or load, also figuratively: Se quitó un peso de encima.^[3][1]
5. Importance, influence: un argumento de peso.^[1][20]
6. (sports) A weight class in boxing and other sports; the shot thrown in athletics.^[3][20]
7. A balance or other device for weighing; scales.^[3][1]
8. The peso, the currency of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay;^[3][1] (historical) an old Spanish silver coin.^[3][1]
9. (Dominican Republic, Bolivia, in the plural) Banknotes, paper money.^[21]

Word family

• contrapeso
• repeso
• peseta

Related words

• pensar
• pesa
• pesar
• pienso
• Latin pēnsum

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include caer por su propio peso, “to be self-evident”, and valer su peso en oro.^[1] In the Americas un peso de pan is a peso's worth of bread.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pesar
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. peso
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. poids
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pêso
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. pensum
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. pensare
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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, p. s.v. peso
11. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. peso
12. ^ 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. peso
13. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 584
14. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1210
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 243
16. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. peso
17. ^ 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. 823
18. ^ a b 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. peso
19. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
20. ^ a b c 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. 561
21. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. peso
22. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
23. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 455