según

Forms

según^[1] Old Spanish segund, segunt, segun and segundo, and asegund in the Fuero de Zorita;^[2] Nebrija still wrote segund.^[3][2] Aragonese seguntes continues the old segunt.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin secundum (“following; according to”).^[4][1] Old Spanish segund, also segunt and segundo, is an apocopated form due to its unstressed use before the noun.^[3][5][4][1] The Latin preposition is the neuter of the adjective secundus (“following; second”), used as an adverb and preposition.^[6][7] That adjective is an old participle of sequor (“to follow”), with the rare ending -undus;^[8][1] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Italic *sekʷondo- (“that follows”).^[8][1] It is a doublet of segundo and belongs to the family of seguir.^[1][9]

Corominas calls the treatment of the stressed vowel surprising: it is semi-learned, as in its doublet, although the preposition was otherwise treated as a popular word; he suggests a special development before ⟨-ndu⟩, as in mundo.^[3] Wiktionary notes that a popular ⟨*segón⟩ would have been expected.^[1]

The same Latin word is Catalan segons, Old Catalan and Old Aragonese segont, Portuguese segundo, Italian secondo, Old Occitan segon and Old French seon;^[10][11] French selon was altered by crossing with longum.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211, in a copy of the first quarter of the 13th century) has segund lo que dize Sant Ysidre “according to what Saint Isidore says”.^[12] The first record in a text without a later copy is the Cortes de León of 1208: segunt el establecimiento de los santos decretos “according to the rule of the holy decrees”.^[12] Corominas dates the word to Berceo, 1220–1250.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

At first según was only a preposition, as in Latin; to use it as a conjunction or relative adverb Old Spanish said según como.^[3] Alfonso X used it for “in accordance with” and “in proportion to”: a stone was muy liuiana segund su grandez “very light for its size”.^[13] Medieval Latin had the same senses “as regards, in proportion to, like”.^[14]

The sense “judging by what” is classical, from the early 16th century, and is still common in popular speech.^[3] Before a name or personal pronoun it gives the source of an opinion (según Aristóteles), and used alone it means “it depends”.^[4] The old sense “by the way in which” is now obsolete.^[4][15]

Timeline

• c. 1194–1211 – the Liber Regum has segund.^[12]
• 1208 – segunt in the Cortes de León.^[12]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo has segundo and segund;^[13] Corominas's date of first record.^[5][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses segund for “in proportion to”.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija still writes segund.^[3]
• 1520 – the sense “judging by what” in the Tres Pasos de la Pasión.^[3]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[16]

Meanings

Preposition

1. According to, in accordance with: según el reglamento.^[4][1]
2. Before a name or personal pronoun: according to what that person thinks or says: Según mi padre, va a llover.^[4][17]
3. In proportion to: Cobrarás según las horas que hagas.^[4]

Adverb

1. As, in the way that: Hazlo según te enseñé.^[4][1]
2. Just as, in the same state as: La casa sigue según la dejaste.^[4]
3. (obsolete) Judging by the way in which.^[4]
4. It depends; used alone to show that something is not certain: ¿Saldrás esta noche? —Según.^[4][17]
5. As, while: of two actions that progress together: Según entraban los invitados, se iba llenando la sala.^[9]

Related words

• seguir
• segundo
• Latin secundum

Usage notes

Según is stressed, and takes the subject forms of the personal pronouns: según tú, según yo.^[17] The phrase según y como means “just as” or “it depends”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. según
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 192
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. según
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seguir
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. según
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 695
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. según
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7773
11. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6014
12. ^ 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, p. s.v. según
13. ^ a b c 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. según
14. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. según
16. ^ 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. asegún
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. según