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renegado

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word renegado

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1230 Berceo, Vida de San Millán (in an 18th-century copy) More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin negō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish renegar
Spanish renegado
English renegade

Pronunciation

  • /reneˈɡado/, [re.neˈɣ̞a.ð̞o][1]

Forms

renegado m (plural renegados, feminine renegada, feminine plural renegadas)[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective and noun, it is the past participle from Spanish renegar (“to deny; to renounce one's faith”).[2][3][4] The verb is a borrowing from Medieval Latin renegō (“to deny”), formed from re- and negō (“to deny”), the source of negar.[5] Corominas dates the participle to 1220–1250 and the infinitive only to 1438, but the CDH and the DEMel have the infinitive in the Fuero de Plasencia of 1221.[3][6]

The verb has cognates in Portuguese renegar, Galician renegar, French renier and Italian rinnegare.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo's Vida de San Millán, of about 1230 and known from an 18th-century copy, calls the enemies of the Christians la gent' renegada “the renegade people”.[7] The Fueros de Aragón of 1247 forbid calling tornadiço or renegado anyone converted from Judaism or paganism, which shows the word already used as an insult.[7] In Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275) regnegado “one who has renounced his faith” is one of the meanings given for the name Nimrod.[8]

Semantic evolution

The Academy in 1817 defined a renegado as one who renounces the law of Christ, and also as a desperate man given to cursing.[9] In 1843 it added the card game, a variety of ombre for three players with nine cards each, already recorded by Terreros.[10][11] The second sense became a harsh, foul-mouthed person, figurative and familiar for the Academy from 1884.[12][2] The religious sense has since widened to anyone who voluntarily abandons their religion or beliefs, though above all a Christian who became a Muslim.[2][4][13] In New Mexico Spanish the word describes someone who habitually curses.[14]

English renegade, from the 1580s, is probably the Spanish word with a change of suffix;[15] Hakluyt and others first used the form renegado, at first for a Christian turned Muslim.[15] Thomas Gage's account of the West Indies of 1648 has Renegado as a term of abuse.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán (in an 18th-century copy) has gent' renegada.[7]
  • 1247 – the Fueros de Aragón forbid calling a convert renegado.[7]
  • 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria has the spelling regnegado.[8]
  • 1571 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.[17]
  • 1580s – English borrows the word as renegado, later renegade.[15]
  • 1817 – the Academy defines the religious sense and the sense “man given to cursing”.[9]
  • 1843 – the Academy adds the card game.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a person, having voluntarily abandoned their religion or beliefs; apostate (also as a noun, a renegade): Lo trataban como a un renegado de su partido.[2][1][18]
  2. (colloquial) Of a person, harsh-tempered and foul-mouthed (also as a noun).[2][4]

Noun

  1. A variety of the card game ombre (hombre) for three players.[2][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. renegado
  3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. negar
  4. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. renegado
  5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. renegar
  6. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. renegar
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ 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. renegado
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 751
  10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 627
  11. ^ 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. 4, 45
  12. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 920
  13. ^ 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. renegar
  14. ^ Cobos, Rubén (1983), A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, p. 168
  15. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  16. ^ Grupo IATEXT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, AMERLEX: corpus of americanisms in early texts on the Americas (online database), p. s.v. renegado
  17. ^ 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. rendegado
  18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. renegado

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Renegado.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/renegado. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·