primo

Forms

primo m (plural primos, feminine prima, feminine plural primas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prīmus (“first”), which figuratively came to mean “of the first quality”.^[2][3][4] In the sense “cousin” it is a shortening of cōnsobrīnus prīmus (“first cousin”), literally “first cousin” as against the second and third cousins, to whom the word was later extended.^[2][3][5] Latin cōnsobrīnus alone meant rather a second cousin or a more distant relative, so the longer phrase was needed and was later worn down.^[2][6] Castilian kept the Latin word for cousin itself as sobrino “nephew”.^[7][3]

In the proper sense “first” Spanish replaced the Latin word with primero from the start;^[2] the Spanish word in that sense, from the Glosas Silenses to Juan Ruiz, is a Latinism.^[2] Wiktionary accordingly treats the adjective “first, prime” as a borrowing from Latin.^[1]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *prīzmos, a superlative of an obsolete preposition *pri (“before”); de Vaan builds it on an adverb of that form with the superlative suffix *-isamo-, and calls the PIE ancestry of this adverb uncertain.^[1][8]

The cousin sense is an innovation of Portuguese primo and Spanish.^[2] Elsewhere the Latin adjective gave Catalan prim (“thin, fine”), Occitan prim and Italian primo, while French cousin, Catalan cosí and Italian cugino continue the Latin word for cousin.^[7][2] Corominas rejects the usual explanation of the French type as a nursery shortening and derives it from a contraction of the Latin phrase, as in southern Italian dialects.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both main senses are in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140): un brial primo de ciclaton, “a fine tunic of silk”, and primo eres de mis fijas, “you are my daughters' cousin”.^[9][2][3] The cousin sense also appears in a charter of 1194.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The old adjective meant “excellent, fine”, and also “scrupulous, subtle”;^[2] Aragonese used it for fine as opposed to coarse cloth (tela prima, 1373 and 1497), the sense that became Catalan prim “thin”.^[2] Covarrubias in 1611 called a shoemaker de obra prima one who makes fine shoes.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1737) gives primo as “first”, as “excellent, skilful”, and as the son of an uncle, with primo hermano, segundo, tercero.^[11]

In 1884 the Academy added the title the king gave to the grandees of Spain and the colloquial sense of a simple, gullible person.^[12] Corominas takes the latter from the old sense “subtle, refined”, used ironically: in Cuba primo meant a simple rustic (le cogí de primo). The colloquial “the one who pays for others, the dupe” comes from this Cuban use.^[2][3] Wagner preferred a figurative use of the kinship word, the country cousin whom everyone exploits.^[2][3] Número primo is the mathematician's prime number.^[13][1] In Spain primo is also a slang form of address among young men, and in several countries of Central and South America it means simply a man or woman, or a close friend.^[1][14]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses primo for “excellent” and for “cousin”.^[9][2]
• 1194 – the cousin sense in a charter.^[2]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria calls the children of two brothers primo.^[15]
• 1373 – tela prima “fine cloth” in an Aragonese inventory.^[2]
• 1529 – the first record of the cousin sense in the Americas, in Nicaragua.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records obra prima for fine workmanship.^[10]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records primo hermano.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy records the gullible person and the king's title for the grandees.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. cousin: the son of one's uncle or aunt;^[4][1][5] primo hermano or primo carnal a first cousin, primo segundo a second cousin: Pasé el verano con mis primos de Burgos.^[4][1][5]
2. (historical) The title the king gave to the grandees of Spain in letters and official documents.^[4]
3. (colloquial) A sucker, a gullible person who is easily deceived or exploited: hacer el primo.^[4][1][13]
4. (Spain, slang) A form of address among friends, like “mate” or “bro”.^[1]
5. (mathematics) A prime number (número primo).^[1][13]

Adjective

1. first, now chiefly in set phrases such as materia prima “raw material”.^[4][1][17]
2. (obsolete) Exquisite, excellent, finely made.^[4][11]
3. (mathematics) Of a number: prime, divisible only by itself and one.^[1][13]

Word family

• primor
• primazgo
• primo hermano
• primo segundo

Related words

• primoroso
• sobrino
• Latin prīmus
• Portuguese primo

Usage notes

Prima is both the feminine of primo and a noun of its own: a bonus or premium, the treble string of a guitar, and the canonical hour of prime.^[4][3] Primo hermano is also said of things that closely resemble each other.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. primo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. primo
5. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. primo
6. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 159
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. primo
10. ^ 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. 1229
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 379
12. ^ 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. 864
13. ^ a b c d 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. 612
14. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. primo
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. primo
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. primo
17. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. primo