promiscuo

Forms

promiscuo (feminine promiscua, masculine plural promiscuos, feminine plural promiscuas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin prōmiscuus (“mixed, shared in common”).^[2][3][1][4] The Latin adjective is formed from prō-, misceō (“to mix”) and the suffix -uus.^[5][1] De Vaan reconstructs the verb as Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sk-e/o-.^[6]

The DCECH treats it under mecer, which continues the same Latin verb, and the BDELC under mezclar.^[3][7] The same Latin word is Portuguese promíscuo, recorded from the 17th century, Catalan promiscu and French promiscu.^[8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates it to the middle of the 16th century, in Villalobos.^[3] Autoridades quotes him: Las dissonantes voces de la promíscua multitúd “the dissonant voices of the mixed multitude”, with the sense “mixed confusedly or indiscriminately”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades gives a second sense, “having two meanings, or usable either way with the same value”, quoting Carranza on the use of coins.^[10] The first record from the Americas, Guatemala 1716, also has a promiscua multitud “mixed crowd”.^[11] Salvá in 1846 marked the first sense as little used.^[12]

The sexual sense, of a person who has relations with several others and of their way of life, is in the Academy's dictionary of 2001.^[13] Moliner notes that the word is usually pejorative.^[4] A Chilean source of 1962 still uses it for the mixed use of tú and vos.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – first record, in Villalobos.^[3][10]
• 1716 – first record from the Americas, in Guatemala.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades gives the senses “mixed” and “having two meanings”.^[10]
• 1846 – Salvá marks the sense “mixed” as little used.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin promiscuus.^[14]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary has the sexual sense.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Mixed confusedly or without distinction.^[2][4][1]
2. Having two senses, or usable equally in one way or another, both being equivalent.^[2][4]
3. Of a person: promiscuous, having sexual relations with several others; also used as a noun.^[2][4][1]
4. Typical of a promiscuous person: una vida promiscua.^[2][15]

Word family

• promiscuamente
• promiscuar
• promiscuidad

Related words

• mezclar
• mecer
• mixto
• inmiscuir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. promiscuo
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 9
4. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. promiscuo
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mezclar
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
9. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
10. ^ 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, 400
11. ^ 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. promiscuo
12. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 887
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 870
15. ^ 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. 438