provecho

Forms

provecho m (plural provechos)^[1] Old Spanish forms include prouecho, proueio, profeito and profieyto.^[2] Aragonese has proveito and Asturian proveto.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prōfectus (“progress; success”), which also meant “profit, use”.^[4][5][6][1] Corominas notes that forms keeping the /f/, as in the northern Romance languages, are rare in Castilian; once the word was no longer felt as a compound, Castilian and Portuguese voiced the consonant.^[4][7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese proveito, Galician proveito, Asturian provechu, Catalan profit, Occitan profièch and French profit.^[3][8][1] Italian proveccio, usual in Italian in the 16th and 17th centuries, was borrowed from Spanish.^[4][8] English profit is a cognate, through French.^[1]

The Latin noun is the action noun of prōficiō (“to advance, prosper; to be useful”), which is formed from prō- (“forward”) and faciō (“to make, do”).^[9][10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from a charter of 1184 in Oelschläger's list, and also cites Berceo.^[4][5] The DEMel has proueio in the Fuero de Madrid (1158–1202).^[2] Berceo uses it for spiritual benefit: Aquella temptación óvonos grant provecho, “that temptation brought us great benefit”.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the word meant benefit or advantage, both gain and the good something does; the Fuero de Cáceres grants its charter a prouecho del conceio, “for the benefit of the town council”.^[12] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the healing use of a stone, and de poco provecho for a person of little worth.^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 derived it from Latin proventus “yield”, and the Diccionario de Autoridades repeated this, adding the sense of progress in the sciences, arts or virtues.^[14][15]

Terreros recorded buen provecho as the wish addressed to people eating.^[16] In much of Latin America ¡provecho! alone, or feliz provecho in Guatemala, is said to someone at a meal, and in Argentina and Uruguay the word also names a baby's burp.^[17][1][6]

Timeline

• 1158–1202 – proueio in the Fuero de Madrid.^[2]
• 1184 – a charter, the DCECH's first record.^[4][5]
• 1236–1246 – Berceo's Loores de Nuestra Señora uses grant provecho.^[12][11]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the virtue of a stone.^[13]
• 1546 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin proventus.^[14]
• 1737 – the learned proficuo “useful” first recorded.^[5]
• 1793 – Terreros records buen provecho.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. benefit or profit obtained from something: Supo sacar provecho de su estancia en el extranjero.^[6][1]
2. Benefit or use given to someone.^[6]
3. Progress in the sciences, arts or virtues.^[6][15]
4. (colloquial, Argentina, Uruguay) A baby's burp.^[6]
5. (in the plural) Perquisites, earnings received besides one's salary.^[6]

Interjection

1. (Latin America) enjoy your meal, short for buen provecho.^[1][17]

Word family

• provechoso
• aprovechar
• aprovechamiento
• desaprovechar

Related words

• proficuo
• Latin prōfectus
• Portuguese proveito
• English profit

Usage notes

¡Buen provecho! is said to people who are eating or drinking.^[6] De provecho describes a useful person or thing.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. provecho
3. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5228
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 664
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. provecho
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. provecho
7. ^ Prat Sabater, Marta (2003), Préstamos del catalán en el léxico español, doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, p. 187
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. profectus
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. prōfectus
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. provecho
11. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 614
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. provecho
13. ^ 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. provecho
14. ^ 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. 1233
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 413
16. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 232
17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. provecho
18. ^ 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. provecho