príncipe

Forms

príncipe m (plural príncipes)^[1] Berceo writes príncep, the Libro de Alexandre préncepe, and the Primera Crónica General príncipe.^[2] The feminine is princesa, borrowed from French.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prīnceps (“first; chief, ruler”), a learned word.^[4][2][3][1] The Latin word is a compound of prīmus (“first”).^[4][5][6][7] Corominas takes the second part as caput (“head”), but Lewis & Short, the OLD and the DHLF see in it capiō (“to take”), so that the word means “the one who takes the first place”.^[4][5][6][7] The feminine princesa is from French princesse, a derivative of the French word for “prince”.^[3][4]

The same Latin word is Portuguese príncipe, Italian principe, Catalan príncep and French prince.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1220–1250, in Berceo's form príncep.^[4][2] Alfonso X's prose uses it from the 1250s for “the first and foremost” of something and for a member of a royal family, and in the Estoria de España for the heir to the throne.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's dictionaries from 1817 to 1869 put first the general sense “the first and most excellent in something” and then the heir to the crown.^[10][11] Today the first sense survives mainly in príncipe de los ingenios, said of Cervantes, and the main senses are the heir and the sovereign of certain states.^[12] The title Príncipe de Asturias was first given to Enrique III as heir of Castile and has been borne by the heirs to the Spanish crown ever since.^[12] A chronicle of 1539 written in New Granada explains that the heir is called duke of Calabria in Naples, Dauphin in France and Príncipe in Castile.^[13]

Príncipe azul “Prince Charming” names the ideal partner of dreams, and príncipe de las tinieblas the devil.^[3] In Chile a príncipe is a long pastry filled with manjar blanco.^[14] The word passed into Tagalog and Cebuano as prinsipe.^[1]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, as príncep in Berceo.^[4][2]
• c. 1256 – “the first and foremost” in Alfonso X's prose.^[9]
• c. 1335 – first record of principio “beginning”.^[4]
• 1490 – first record of principado.^[4]
• 1495 – first record of princesa.^[4]
• 1539 – the Castilian title of the heir explained in New Granada.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary gives “the first and most excellent” and “the heir to the crown”.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin princeps, principis.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. prince: the son of a king who is heir to the crown.^[3][1]
2. In some monarchies, a son of the king who is not the heir.^[3]
3. A member of a royal or imperial family.^[3]
4. A monarch or sovereign.^[3][1]
5. The consort of a princess.^[3]
6. A title of nobility granted by the king in exceptional cases.^[3]
7. In some countries, a noble of very high rank, above a duke.^[3]
8. A person, animal or thing that excels among others of its kind.^[3][12]
9. (beekeeping) The young of bees destined to become queens.^[3]
10. (Chile) A long pastry of two thin layers filled with manjar blanco.^[14]

Adjective

1. Of an edition: the first, in edición príncipe “first edition, editio princeps”.^[3][1]

Word family

• principado
• principesco
• princesa
• principito

Related words

• primo
• Latin princeps

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 648
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. príncipe
4. ^ 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. príncipe
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. princeps
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. princeps
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. prince
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6755
9. ^ 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. príncipe
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 703
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 632
12. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. príncipe
13. ^ 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. príncipe
14. ^ 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. príncipe
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 811