pobredad

Forms

pobredad f (uncountable)^[1] Old Spanish wrote pobredat and pobredad, with the metathesised probedat in Juan Ruiz.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish pobredat, inherited from Latin paupertas (“poverty”).^[4][1][5] Corominas lists the word among the derivatives of pobre, and DICCA-XV also explains it as formed from that adjective;^[6][7][1] Wiktionary notes that it is equivalent to the adjective with the suffix -dad.^[6][7][1] The Latin noun is formed from pauper (“poor”) with the suffix -tās.^[8][1]

The same Latin word is Italian povertà, Old French poverte, French pauvreté, Occitan paubretat and Catalan pobretat.^[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel and DICCA-XV date the first record to about 1215, in the Vida de Santa María Egipciaca.^[2][7] Berceo uses it in the Vida de Santo Domingo: yazer en pobredat “to lie in poverty”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used pobredad beside pobreza, which is recorded from about the same time;^[6][10] Corominas cites it in Berceo, the Calila, the Gran conquista de Ultramar and Juan Ruiz.^[6][10] The Bocados de oro warn a king not to trust a man que haya passado por mui grand pobredad.^[11] The Diccionario de Autoridades already called it antiquated and defined it as the same as pobreza, and the Academy has kept it as obsolete ever since.^{[11][12][13][4]} In the Canary Islands it was used in the 20th century for the poor as a group.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipciaca.^[2][7]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades marks it as antiquated.^[11]
• 1843 – the Academy labels it obsolete.^[12]
• 1955–1956 – a Canarian memoir uses la pobredad for the poor people of a place.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (obsolete) poverty; pobreza.^[4][1]
2. (Canary Islands) The poor as a group.^[14]

Related words

• pobre
• pobreza
• Latin paupertas

Usage notes

The Judeo-Spanish probedad “poverty” is explained by Wagner as an analogical formation.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. pobredad
3. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 335
4. ^ a b c 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. pobredad
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. paupertas
6. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 584
7. ^ a b c d 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. pobredad
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. paupertās
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. pobretat
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pobre
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 305
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 572
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 843
14. ^ a b c 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. pobredad
15. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4856