poco

Forms

poco m (plural pocos, feminine poca, feminine plural pocas, superlative poquísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin paucus (“few, small in number”); Old Spanish poco has the same form from the earliest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The same Latin word is Portuguese pouco, Galician pouco, Asturian pocu, Catalan poc, Occitan pauc, French peu and Italian poco.^[5][6][1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *pauko- and Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u- “few, small”; paulus, pauxillus, parvus and pauper belong to the same root.^[7][8][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros, “few, small”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍃 (faus, “few”) and Old English feawe, the ancestor of the English word few.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the late 10th century, are the first record.^[2][3] The Cid (c. 1140) has poco “few” (pocos días ha “a few days ago”), poco as a noun for “a short time”, the comparative más pocos “fewer”, and poco “small”, opposed to grant: „la poca e la grant toda es de myo señor” “the small and the great, all belongs to my lord”.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “small”, continuing the Latin sense “scanty”, belongs to archaic and eastern texts (the Cid, a charter of 1213, Berceo), like Old Catalan poc and Old Occitan pauc; the Portuguese place name Vila Pouca shows it also in the west.^[2] The phrase poco a poco “little by little” is in Juan Manuel and Juan Ruiz, as poc' a poco in the Libro de Alexandre and as su poco a poco in Lope.^[2]

Covarrubias in 1611 records tener a uno en poco “to think little of someone” and the proverbs poco a poco hila la vieja el copo and de lo poco, poco, y de lo mucho, nada, said of men who are generous while poor and mean once rich.^[11] Argentina has de a poco “gradually”, and Mexico the question ¿a poco…? “surely not…?”.^[2][12] In Nicaragua and Colombia un poco can mean a large amount, and in coastal Ecuador un poco de is “a quantity of”.^[13][14]

Timeline

• c. 950–1000 – first record in the Glosas Silenses.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cid uses poco for “few”, “a short time” and “small”.^[10]
• 1213 – poco “small” in a charter of northern Castile.^[2]
• 1220–1250 – the diminutive poquiello in Berceo.^[2][3]
• 1240 – the derivative apocar in the Fuero Juzgo.^[2][3]
• 1250–1279 – the Lapidario of Alfonso X uses it as adjective, noun (una poca de lana) and adverb.^[15]
• 1495 – the derivative poquedad.^[3]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, poco a poco, in Tierra Firme.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records tener a uno en poco and proverbs with poco.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. paucus” and separates the adjective, the noun and the adverb.^[17]

Meanings

Determiner

1. Little, few: small in number, amount or degree compared with what is usual: Había poca luz en la sala.^[4][1]
2. Too little, not enough, often with para: poco pan para tantos invitados.^[4][12]
3. (colloquial) Before a singular noun, a poor example of: Es poco jugador para un equipo así.^[4]

Pronoun

1. A small number or amount; in the plural, few people: Pocos lo sabían.^[4]
2. Little, few things: Hizo poco por ayudarnos.^[4]

Noun

1. un poco: a small amount, a little: un poco de sal.^[4][1]
2. A short time, a little while: Aguarda un poco aquí.^[1][12]

Adverb

1. Little, not much; not enough: Estudia poco.^[4][1]
2. Rarely, seldom: Sale poco de casa.^[4]
3. Before comparatives, by a small margin: poco más tarde.^[4]
4. Before an adjective, not very, un-: poco probable.^[1][12]

Word family

• poquito
• poquillo
• poquedad
• apocar
• apocado
• apocamiento
• parapoco

Related words

• paulatino
• Latin paucus
• Portuguese pouco
• French peu
• English few

Usage notes

Set phrases include poco a poco “little by little”, poco más o menos “more or less”, a poco “shortly after” and por poco “almost”; the Academy marks a pocas “almost” as obsolete.^[4][17] In Mexico ¿a poco…? introduces an incredulous question.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 585
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. poco
4. ^ 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. poco
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4854
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. paucus
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. paucus
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. poco
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. paucus
10. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. poco
11. ^ 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. 1220
12. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. poco
13. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. poco
14. ^ Lemos R., Gustavo (1920–1922), Semántica o ensayo de lexicografía ecuatoriana, Guayaquil, with Suplemento (1922), p. 1, 162
15. ^ 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. poco
16. ^ 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. poco
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. 843