prenombre

Forms

prenombre m (plural prenombres)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praenōmen (“first name”), adapted to the Spanish word nombre.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary analyses it as pre- and nombre.^[1]

The Latin noun is formed from prae- (“before”) and nōmen (“name”).^[1][5] De Vaan traces the noun to Proto-Indo-European *h₃néh₃-mn̥ (“name”).^[6] The same Latin word was borrowed as French prénom, recorded from 1556.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Spanish Textual Archive first has it in Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary and his Gramática castellana, both of 1492, and in a 1495 dictionary.^[8] The sense is the Roman first name.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Salvá (1846) defined it as the name that preceded the family name among the Romans, and the Academy used the same definition in 1869 and gave the Latin source in 1884.^[9][10][11] The DLE keeps only the Roman sense.^[2] Moliner adds that it translates the word for a personal name in other countries, where Spanish says nombre propio;^[1] Wiktionary has the sense “given name, forename”.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 1492 – Nebrija's dictionary and grammar.^[8]
• 1846 – Salvá defines it.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin praenomen.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) The praenomen, the personal name that preceded the family name among the Romans: En «Marco Tulio Cicerón», «Marco» es el prenombre.^[2][3][1]
2. A given name or forename, especially in countries outside Spain.^[4][1]

Related words

• nombre
• sobrenombre
• Latin praenōmen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. prenombre
3. ^ a b c Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 485
4. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. prenombre
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. praenōmen
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. prénom
8. ^ 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. prenombre
9. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 876
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 628
11. ^ 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. 860