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sano

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word sano

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 950 Glosas Emilianenses More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin sanus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic *sānos
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sānus
Italian sano
Spanish sano
English sane
From the same root
Latin īnsānus ← sānus
Latin sānē ← sānus
Latin sānitās ← sānus
Latin sānō ← sānus
Latin vēsānus ← sānus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsano/, [ˈsa.no][1]

Forms

sano (feminine sana, masculine plural sanos, feminine plural sanas, superlative sanísimo)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sānus (“healthy; sane”), which also meant “sensible, in one's right mind”.[2][3][4][1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese são, Galician san, Asturian sanu, Catalan sa, Occitan san, French sain, Italian sano and Sardinian sanu.[5][6][1] Spanish and Italian also use it of things, “undamaged, whole”.[6]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *sānos; de Vaan calls the Indo-European form Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-no- purely mechanical, and suggests a root *seh₂- (“to tie”), “in place, in order”, or the root of satis (“enough”).[7][1] Others compare Ancient Greek σῶς (sôs, “safe, sound”) and German gesund (“healthy”), and Nocentini treats the word as isolated.[1] Bénaben and the DHLF call its origin unknown.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Emilianenses of the mid-10th century have the plural sanos.[2][3][10] The Cantar de mio Cid uses the word several times.[11][2] Berceo sometimes uses it for “good”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the main senses: healthy, safe and without risk, good for the health, and free of corruption, as the understanding of the laws should be.[12] Covarrubias in 1611 extends it from the body to the mind: a hombre sano is a well-meaning man, food and medicine are sana when they bring health, and an apple is sana when it is not rotten.[13]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 has the proverbs Aquel va más sano que anda por el llano and Si quieres vivir sano, hazte viejo temprano, and the thieves' slang phrase sano de Castilla “a thief in disguise”.[14][15] Sano y salvo “safe and sound” is found in the Americas in 1515, and has its parallels in French sain et sauf and Italian sano e salvo.[16][9] The phrase cortar por lo sano entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884.[17] The 1899 edition added the senses for plants and for what is free of error, and Alemany in 1917 the colloquial “whole, unbroken”.[18][19] In Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay sano also means “sober”.[20]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – sanos in the Glosas Emilianenses.[2][10]
  • c. 1140 – the word in the Cantar de mio Cid, with the verb sanar.[11][3]
  • 1210 – the derivative sanidat “health”.[2]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it of healthy children.[12]
  • c. 1400 – the verb sanear.[3]
  • 1495 – Nebrija has sanable and saneamiento.[3]
  • 1515 – the first record in the Americas, sano i salvo in Tierra Firme.[16]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias gives the senses of body and mind.[13]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as healthy, safe and salubrious.[21]
  • 1817 – the Academy records sano y salvo and the proverbs.[14]
  • 1884 – the Academy enters cortar por lo sano.[17]
  • c. 1900 – the derivative sanatorio.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. healthy, in perfect health; also as a noun, a healthy person.[4][1]
  2. Good for the health, wholesome: Aquí se respira un aire muy sano.[4]
  3. Of a plant or fruit: sound, not damaged or rotten.[4][22]
  4. Free of error or vice; morally or mentally sound.[4]
  5. Safe, without risk.[4]
  6. sincere, well-meaning.[4][1]
  7. (colloquial) Whole, unbroken: Después de la mudanza no le quedó una taza sana.[4][1]
  8. (Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay) sober.[20]

Word family

  • sanamente
  • sanear
  • malsano
  • matasanos
  • sanalotodo
  • sobresanar
  • sano y salvo
  • cortar por lo sano

Usage notes

Sano y salvo means “safe and sound”, and cortar por lo sano “to take drastic measures”.[4] En su sano juicio is “in one's right mind”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 153
  3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sano
  4. ^ 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. sano
  5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sanus
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sanus
  7. ^ 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. sānus
  8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. sano
  9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. sain
  10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sano
  11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 433
  12. ^ 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. sano
  13. ^ 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. 1, 1284
  14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 785
  15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 979
  16. ^ a b 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. sano
  17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 958
  18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 897
  19. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1488
  20. ^ 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. sano
  21. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 41
  22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sano

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sano.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/sano. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·