rico

Forms

rico (feminine rica, masculine plural ricos, feminine plural ricas)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write rrico and arrico.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish rico, borrowed from Gothic 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (reiks, “mighty, powerful”), pronounced [riks].^[3][4][5][1] The word exists in all the western Romance languages: Portuguese rico, Catalan ric, Occitan ric, French riche and Italian ricco.^[3][6]

Meyer-Lübke cited Old High German rīhhi as the source, perhaps standing for its close relative Frankish, from which French and Occitan–Catalan would have the word;^[3] Italian would have it from Lombardic, and Castilian and Portuguese would have borrowed it from Catalan.^[3] Corominas rejects this: a word so basic and popular must be native in Castilian and Portuguese, and he follows Gamillscheg in deriving the Ibero-Romance and Occitan word from Gothic, the French one from Frankish *rīkī and the Italian one from Lombardic rīhhi.^[3][7] He adds that Meyer-Lübke's belief that a Germanic /k/ between vowels had to be voiced like the Latin one was a prejudice that Gamillscheg disproved.^[3] García de Diego and Bénaben derive the Spanish word from Frankish, and the DLE from Gothic.^[6][8][5]

The Gothic word meant “mighty, noble” and, as a noun, “ruler”; it is related to Old Norse ríkr, Old English rīce and the Old High German word.^[9][10] Feist and Lehmann take it as an early loan from Celtic, made before the Germanic sound shift: compare Gaulish *-rīx in names such as Dumnorix and Old Irish rí (“king”).^[9][10] Wiktionary gives the chain Proto-Germanic *rīkijaz, Proto-Celtic *rīxs, Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs (“king, ruler”), the word that also gave Latin rēx.^[1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

From the first texts the word means “wealthy”: in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140) the hero promises the moneylenders Rachel and Vidas „por siempre vos faré ricos, que non seades menguados” “I will make you rich for ever, so that you shall never be in want”.^[3][4] The same poem has rico omne, a man of the highest rank of the nobility, and uses rico for fine and costly things such as furs and a wedding.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish rico thus meant “powerful, noble” and “excellent, splendid” beside “wealthy”: Berceo calls the Virgin „rica reína” with a „rica corona”.^[3] Alfonso X's Lapidario has it both for “noble” and for “wealthy”.^[11] Covarrubias in 1611 calls the word Gothic and gives two senses, noble lineage and personal worth, quoting the Partidas, where ricos omes are those other countries call counts or barons; in his day, he says, the name had passed to those who have much money.^[12]

The sense “tasty, pleasant” is in the Academy's dictionary of 1817.^[13] Corominas notes that uses such as un postre muy rico or ven aquí, rico, which today feel figurative, may continue the old sense “excellent, fine”.^[3] The present dictionary lists “noble” as obsolete; modern senses include “fertile” of land, “luxurious, costly”, and in colloquial use “sweet, charming”, of a child, and a term of endearment, often ironic.^[5] In the Caribbean, Costa Rica and Colombia rico is also an adverb, “very well”, and in several countries it is said of an attractive woman.^[14][15][1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses rico “wealthy” and rico omne “nobleman”.^[3][4]
• 1154–1194 – the Navarrese chronicles have the word.^[2]
• c. 1250 – enriquecer first recorded.^[4]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “noble” and “wealthy”.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin dives and opulentus.^[16]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.^[17]
• 1599 – ricacho first recorded.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls the word Gothic.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary has the sense “tasty, pleasant”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rich, wealthy; also as a noun, los ricos “the rich”.^[5][1]
2. Abundant, plentiful; rich in something: un suelo rico en hierro.^[5][18]
3. Of land: fertile.^[5]
4. luxurious, of great value or price.^[5][1]
5. tasty, delicious; pleasant.^[5][1]
6. Very good of its kind.^[5]
7. (colloquial) Of a child: sweet and charming.^[5][18]
8. (colloquial) Used to address someone affectionately, often ironically: Oye, rico, ¿qué te has creído?^[5][18]
9. (obsolete) Noble, of high lineage or known worth.^[5][12]
10. (Mexico, Central America, colloquial) Attractive, sexy.^[1][15]

Word family

• ricacho
• riqueza
• enriquecer
• ricohombre
• ricachón
• ricamente
• ricura

Related words

• Gothic 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (reiks)
• French riche
• Italian ricco

Usage notes

Nuevo rico is a person who has suddenly become rich and shows it off.^[5] The compounds ricohombre and ricahembra name the high nobility of medieval Castile.^[4][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. rico
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 10
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rico
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. rico
6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5709
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. riche
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. rico
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 234
10. ^ a b c Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. 311
11. ^ 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. rico
12. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1265
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 765
14. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. rico
15. ^ 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. rico, ca
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 409
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. rico
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. rico