principal

Forms

principal m or f (masculine and feminine plural principales)^[1] Old Spanish wrote prinçipal as well as principal; the popular form prençipal or prencipal is widespread, also in Asturian, and appears in documents from Nicaragua in 1528.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish prinçipal, borrowed from Latin principālis (“original, primary; chief; of the emperor”), a learned word.^[5][6][1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of príncipe, with a first record in Berceo's Milagros.^[2][5]

The Latin adjective is formed from princeps (“first; chief”) with the suffix -ālis.^[7][1] The OLD derives the noun from prīmus (“first”) with the element -ceps, which Wikcionario and DICCA-XV take from capiō (“to take”).^[8][9][10] Corominas instead explains it as a compound of the same adjective and caput (“head”).^[5]

The same Latin adjective is Portuguese principal, Galician principal, Asturian principal, Catalan principal, French principal and Italian principale.^[1][11][12] French borrowed the word in 1080.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is the Semejanza del mundo, of about 1223, which calls the east wind one of the four vientos prinçipales “principal winds”.^[14] Corominas's first record is Berceo's Milagros (1220–1250), where it means “notable, remarkable”: Los sus sanctos miraclos grandes e principales “his holy miracles, great and notable”.^[2][5][15]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the adjective already meant first in importance and essential as opposed to accessory, as in Alfonso X's Lapidario and the General estoria.^[16] As a noun it named the persons chiefly responsible for something: a charter of 1240 calls two clergymen principales in carrying out a will.^[14] In the Americas the plural named the leading men of the native peoples, as in a text from Mexico of 1532.^[4] Today it means a person of great influence in a community in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.^[17]

Autoridades also gave the sense “illustrious, noble”, which the DLE now marks as obsolete.^[18][6] The Academy's 1817 dictionary added two nouns, the central guard post of a garrison and the capital of a debt as opposed to its interest, and the 1869 edition the head of a commercial house.^[19][20] In 1884 the Academy recorded the floor above the ground floor or the mezzanine, still called el principal in Spain.^[21][22] In the United States and Puerto Rico principal also means the head of a school, an adaptation of the English word principal.^[23][24][17]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo speaks of the four vientos prinçipales.^[14]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo's Milagros, Corominas's first record.^[2][5]
• 1240 – a charter uses principales for the persons in charge of executing a will.^[14]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of the chief stones.^[16]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses principal cosa with Latin adprimus.^[25]
• 1528 – the form prençipal in documents from Nicaragua.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as what is esteemed and placed before the rest.^[26]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the guard post and the capital of a debt.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy records the floor above the ground floor.^[21]

Meanings

Adjective

1. main, chief: first in esteem or importance and preferred to others: La puerta principal da a la plaza.^[6][1]
2. Of a person: first in a business, at its head.^[6]
3. essential, fundamental, as opposed to accessory.^[6][1]
4. Of an edition: the first; princeps.^[6]
5. Of a floor of a building: above the ground floor or the mezzanine; also as a noun.^[6]
6. (grammar) Of a clause: not dependent on another clause.^[22][27]
7. (obsolete) illustrious, noble.^[6]

Noun

1. (masculine) In a garrison town, the guard post that assists the police and courts and passes the daily orders and password to the other posts.^[6]
2. (masculine, finance) The capital of a debt or annuity, as opposed to the interest.^[6]
3. (masculine) The head of a business, shop or factory; boss.^[6][1]
4. (masculine, law) The person who grants a power of attorney, the poderdante.^[6]
5. (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras) A person of great influence or power in a region or community.^[17]
6. (United States, Puerto Rico) The head of a school.^[17][23]

Word family

• principalmente
• principalía
• principalidad

Related words

• príncipe
• principio
• Latin princeps

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. principal
4. ^ 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. prencipal
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. príncipe
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. principal
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. principālis
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. princeps
9. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. principal
10. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. principal
11. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2709
12. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. principal
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. principal
14. ^ 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, p. s.v. principal
15. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 607
16. ^ 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. principal
17. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. principal
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 380
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 703
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 632
21. ^ 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
22. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. principal
23. ^ a b Moreno-Fernández, Francisco (2018), Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense (Informes del Observatorio 037-01/2018SP), Cambridge, Mass.: Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University, p. 79
24. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. principal
25. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 401
26. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1230
27. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. principal