privilegio

Forms

privilegio m (plural privilegios)^[1] Old and classical Spanish also wrote previlegio, preuillegio and previllejo.^[2][3] In the Americas previlejio, previllejo and prebilegio are recorded in the 16th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prīvilēgium (“a law for or against an individual”), a learned word.^[3][5][6] Wiktionary calls it inherited, but Corominas treats it as taken from Latin.^[1][3] The Latin noun is a compound of prīvus (“individual, one's own”) and lēx (“law”), with the suffix -ium, and so meant “a private law”.^[7][1][3] In Cicero's time it was a law passed against one person; later the word meant a law or grant in someone's favour.^[7]

De Vaan reconstructs the first element as Proto-Italic *prei-wo- (“separate, individual”), from Proto-Indo-European *prei-uo-.^[8] The same word is Italian privilegio and French privilège, which French took from legal Latin about 1170.^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora, where it seems to mean “influence”: ca el tu privilegio vale a peccador “for your privilege avails the sinner”.^[3][10] The CDH has it in Berceo's Vida de San Millán (c. 1230, known from an 18th-century copy), of the votes of San Millán con buenos privilegios ... confirmado “confirmed with good charters”.^[10][11] The first record in an original document is a letter of Fernando III of 1239, which mentions a priuilegio plomado, a lead-sealed charter of his grandfather.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Siete Partidas define the word as ley apartada, a law given to honour or benefit particular people or places and not everyone, and also use it for the document of the grant.^[12] Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary renders previlegio as “a law for one person”.^[13]

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a grace or prerogative granted by a superior, exempting someone from a burden, and listed kinds such as the privilegio del canon of the clergy.^[14] Alemany in 1917 added the document of the grant and the privilegio de invención, an exclusive right to exploit an invention.^[15] Today the word also means any exceptional advantage or honour, and historically the licence to print a book.^[16] In Mexico it has been used for the right to extend a lease, and for a fodder grass of Veracruz.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán uses the word for charters (in an 18th-century copy).^[10]
• 1239 – a letter of Fernando III mentions a priuilegio plomado.^[10]
• 1246–1252 – Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora, Corominas's first record.^[3][10]
• 1256–1300 – the Siete Partidas define it as ley apartada.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija has the popular form previlegio.^[13]
• 1495 – Nebrija records the derivatives privilegiar and privilegiado.^[6][3]
• 1536 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology for the first time.^[18]
• 1917 – Alemany records the privilegio de invención.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A privilege: an exemption from an obligation, or an exclusive advantage, granted by a superior or due to one's own circumstances.^[5][1]
2. The charter or document recording such a grant.^[5]
3. An exceptional advantage or honour: Fue un privilegio conocer a aquel maestro.^[16]
4. (historical) An exclusive licence to print a book for a set time.^[16]
5. (Mexico) The right to extend a contract, especially a lease.^[17]

Word family

• privilegiar
• privilegiado

Related words

• privar
• privado
• ley
• Latin privilegium
• French privilège

Usage notes

The privilegio rodado was a medieval royal charter bearing the round seal.^[19] The privilegio de introducción was an exclusive right to use a process newly brought into a country.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. privilegio
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 655
4. ^ 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. previlegio
5. ^ a b c d 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. privilegio
6. ^ 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. 616
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. privilegio
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 609
12. ^ 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. privilegio
13. ^ a b 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. privilegio
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 386
15. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1372
16. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. privilegio
17. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 890
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 866
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. privilegio