pues

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin post (“after; behind”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary gives a reduced form Vulgar Latin *pos as the intermediate stage.^[1] In late Latin the word also took the value of postquam (“after; since”), and Corominas, following Löfstedt, thinks the conjunction comes from this use rather than from the adverb “afterwards”.^[2][3] The adverb survived in Old Spanish in the sense “afterwards”, in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca, Berceo and the Libro de Alexandre.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese pois, Galician pois, Asturian pos, French puis, Italian poi and Romanian apoi.^[5][6][1] Old Portuguese pós was almost only a temporal preposition.^[2] Cunha derives the Portuguese word from a variant *posti, since the classical form does not explain its ⟨i⟩.^[7] después is a compound, an alteration of Old Spanish depués, from Vulgar Latin de post.^[3][5]

The Latin word comes from poste, *posti and *pósti.^[1][8] The worn-down colloquial forms ⟨pus⟩ and ⟨pos⟩ are recorded from the 16th century, ⟨pus⟩ in the Farsa of Alonso de Salaya.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) already uses pues as a causal and an illative conjunction: „Pues adelant irán tras nós, aquí sea la batalla” “since they will come on after us, let the battle be here”.^[9][2] Menéndez Pidal also lists a temporal use, “after”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The causal and illative senses have been constant in every period.^[2] In classical writers pues often introduced a short causal clause where today one would say puesto que, and it could be emphatic, as in Tirso's „Tú, pues”.^[2] Autoridades (1726–1739) described it as a particle of resolution or inference, usually placed after the first word of the clause, and equivalent to supuesto que.^[11]

In the Spanish of the Basque Country pues is used at the end of almost any phrase, perhaps on a Basque model; in Chile it is reduced to pu or po as an emphatic particle, and in Argentina it appears in replies such as sí pues and no pues.^[2] The question ¿pues no? of the classics corresponds to “of course”.^[2] The Academy's dictionary lists the adverb “yes” and the obsolete “afterwards”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses pues as a causal, illative and temporal conjunction.^[2][3][10]
• c. 1210 – the Cronicón Villarense often uses it for “afterwards”.^[2]
• 1244 – Murcian documents have the form pos.^[2]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas has causal pues que.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija translates ea pues with Latin agedum.^[13]
• 16th century – the reduced form pus in the Farsa of Alonso de Salaya.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as a particle of resolution and inference.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin post.^[14]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. because, since: introducing a cause or reason: Llévate el paraguas, pues va a llover.^[4][1]
2. Continuing what was said: Insisto, pues, en que debemos esperar.^[4]
3. So, then; in that case: ¿No te gusta? Pues no lo comas.^[4][1][15]
4. Alone, in a question: why? how so?^[4]
5. At the start of a clause, to support or stress it: ¡Pues claro que sí!^[4]

Adverb

1. Yes, as an affirmation.^[4]
2. (obsolete) Afterwards.^[4][2]

Interjection

1. (colloquial) Showing that something expected has happened.^[4]

Word family

• después

Related words

• Latin post
• Portuguese pois

Usage notes

In colloquial speech the word is often reduced to /pos/.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 683
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pues
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. pues
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5171
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. post
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2631
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. post
9. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pues
10. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 403
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 425
12. ^ 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. pues
13. ^ 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. pues
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. 878
15. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. pues