porque

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish por + que, the preposition with the conjunction, and Corominas records the compound from the Cantar de mio Cid on.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The preposition continues Vulgar Latin por, an alteration of Latin prō (“for, on behalf of”).^[2][3] The conjunction is quid (“what”), which in Vulgar Latin took over the functions of classical quod and some uses of quia (“because”).^[7][8]

The same compound is Catalan perquè and Italian perché.^[2] The Academy's first dictionary still wrote the causal conjunction with a final accent, as Catalan and Italian do.^[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) already uses it as a causal conjunction: mas, porque me vo de tierra, dóvos cincuaenta marcos “but because I am leaving the land, I give you fifty marks”.^[10][2] The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) has Porque no la auemos usada “because we have not used it”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used porque both for cause and for purpose: Alfonso X's Lapidario has the causal sense and por que los sabios lo entendiessen “so that the wise would understand it”.^[11] Medieval texts also gave it the sense “although”, as in Berceo, and “for which reason”.^[12] Terreros notes that the older language said ca in the causal sense.^[13]

The interrogative por qué became a noun, porqué “reason”, recorded from the 15th century in the phrase sin porqué “without reason”; the sense “quantity, portion” follows in 1605, in the Quijote.^[2][3][9] In 1869 the Academy described the interrogative as the same conjunction divided into two words with the accent on the second; its 1884 dictionary gives the two senses of the conjunction still listed today, causal and final.^[14][15][16] In Andalusia porqué still means a wage, as in Nadie trabaja sin su porqué.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses porque as a causal conjunction.^[10][2]
• 1218–1252 – a charter has it in the final sense with a subjunctive.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses both the causal and the final sense.^[11]
• 15th century – the noun porqué “reason”, in sin porqué.^[2][3]
• 1513 – Nebrija gives Latin cur and quare for the interrogative.^[18]
• 1516 – first record from the Americas, in Darién.^[19]
• 1737 – the Autoridades writes the causal conjunction porqué.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary lists the causal and final senses.^[15]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. because; for the reason that: No salimos porque hacía frío.^[16][1]
2. (with the subjunctive) So that, in order that; the same as para que: Trabajan porque a sus hijos no les falte nada.^[16][1][5]

Word family

• porque sí

Related words

• porqué
• por qué
• por
• que
• Catalan perquè
• Italian perché

Usage notes

Porque (one word, unstressed) is the conjunction;^[14][1] por qué (two words, accented) asks “why?”;^[14][1] porqué is the noun “reason”.^[2][14][1] Moliner considers the final sense more logically written as two words, por que.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 611
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. por
4. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. porque
5. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 703
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. que
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 328
10. ^ 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
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. porque
12. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. s.v. porque
13. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 180
14. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 621
15. ^ 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. 850
16. ^ 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. porque
17. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 500
18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 399
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies