precioso

Forms

precioso (feminine preciosa, masculine plural preciosos, feminine plural preciosas, superlative preciosísimo)^[1] Old Spanish texts also spell it presçioso, and 16th-century documents from Mexico and Havana have presciosa and presiosa.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pretiōsus (“costly, valuable”), a learned word.^[1][4][5] Corominas lists it under precio, itself a semi-learned descendant of Latin pretium: only Castilian has a learned form of that noun, while the other Romance languages kept a popular one.^[6][7] Wiktionary notes that within Spanish it can also be read as the noun plus the suffix -oso.^[1]

The same Latin adjective is Portuguese precioso, Catalan preciós, French précieux and Italian prezioso.^{[8][9][10][11]} Nascentes considers the Portuguese word semi-learned.^[12]

The Latin adjective is formed from the noun, “price, value; reward”, with the suffix -ōsus.^[13][14] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Italic *pretio- (“exchange value”), from a preposition Proto-Indo-European *preti (“against”), the source also of Ancient Greek πρός (prós, “towards, against”); he knows no viable alternative.^[14][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 977 in Oelschläger's list; the word is also in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[6][7] DEMel has piedra preciosa “precious stone” in a charter of the late 11th century from the Fanlo collection.^[2] In 1259 the translator of Alfonso X's Libro de las cruzes calls the book muy precioso en los iudizios de las estrellas, “most excellent in the judgements of the stars”.^[15][16]

Semantic evolution

In the prose of Alfonso X the adjective already had its two main senses, “excellent, worthy of esteem” and “of great value, costly”, the second in the precious stones of the Lapidario.^[15] In the Americas it is recorded from 1527 in wills that commend the soul to God, who redeemed it por su presçiosa sangre, “by his precious blood”.^[3]

Covarrubias (1611) defined it as “much esteemed” and added that it sometimes meant “graceful, witty”.^[17] Autoridades (1737) gave that second sense as “witty, festive, quick-tongued”, and recorded a church use: in some cathedrals the preciosa was the payment made to the prebendaries for attending the commemoration of a benefactor, named after the words Pretiosa in conspectu Domini sung in choir.^[18] The colloquial sense “beautiful, lovely”, said of a woman or a child, entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884.^[19] The DLE now marks “witty” as little used.^[4] Vox explains the step from cost to “excellent” and “beautiful” as a transfer to personal relations.^[20]

The derivative preciosura “a lovely person or thing” is dated 1923 by Corominas, but Alemany's dictionary of 1917 already records it as an Americanism of Argentina, Peru and Colombia.^[7][21] In the slang of Honduras and Chile precioso is a euphemism for a person in prison.^[22]

Timeline

• 977 – first record, in a charter of Oelschläger's list.^[6][7]
• late 11th century – piedra preciosa in a charter of the Fanlo collection.^[2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses the word.^[6]
• 1259 – Alfonso X's Libro de las cruzes, the first text in the HSMS archive.^[15][16]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin preciosus for it.^[23]
• 1527 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the sense “graceful, witty”.^[17]
• 1737 – Autoridades derives it from Latin and records the cathedral payment called preciosa.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the colloquial sense “beautiful”.^[19]
• 1917 – Alemany records preciosura as an Americanism.^[21]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Excellent, exquisite, worthy of esteem: Guarda en casa un precioso manuscrito medieval.^[4][24]
2. precious, of great value or high cost, as in metal precioso and piedra preciosa.^[4][1]
3. (colloquial) Very beautiful, lovely, cute: ¡Qué casa tan preciosa tenéis!^[4][1][24]
4. (rare) Witty, amusing, quick-tongued.^[4][18]
5. (Honduras, Chile, slang) Of a person: in prison.^[22]

Noun

1. (feminine, preciosa) In some cathedrals, a payment to the prebendaries for attending the commemoration of a benefactor.^[4][18]

Word family

• preciosura
• preciosismo
• semiprecioso

Related words

• apreciar
• precio
• preciosidad
• Latin pretiōsus
• Portuguese precioso
• English precious

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. precioso
3. ^ a b c 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. precioso
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. precioso
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 564
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 631
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. precio
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2680
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. preciós
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 597
12. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. precioso
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c 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. precioso
16. ^ a b 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, p. s.v. precioso
17. ^ 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. 1226
18. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 348
19. ^ 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. 857
20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. precioso
21. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1362
22. ^ 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. precioso
23. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 400
24. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. precioso