seguramente

Forms

seguramente^[1] Old Spanish wrote the adverb in many shapes: seguramiente, seguramente, segurament, segura mientre, seguramientre, segura miente and segura mient.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish seguro + -mente, the adjective with the adverb-forming suffix.^[1][4] The adjective, recorded from 1206, is from Latin sēcūrus (“free from care; without danger”), itself made of sē- (“without”) and cūra (“care”).^[5][1]

The 19th-century etymologists compared Catalan segurament, French sûrement and Italian sicuramente, formed in the same way in each language.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hits are from the middle of the 13th century, with the old suffix forms: seguramiente in the Poridat de las poridades (c. 1250), segurament in the Aragonese Vidal Mayor and seguramientre in the Fuero Juzgo (c. 1250–1260).^[3] In all of them it means “safely, without fear”: in the Fuero Real the king's subjects may seguramiente uayan, et uengan “come and go in safety”.^[3] The prose of Alfonso X has the same sense, “in a safe way, without danger”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the Middle Ages to the 19th century the dictionaries gave only the sense “with safety or certainty, without risk”: Nebrija rendered it with Latin secure and otiose, Percyvall with “surely, securely”, and the Academy kept the definition of the Diccionario de Autoridades in its editions of 1843 to 1884.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

In the Americas the adverb came to mark a guess rather than a certainty.^[14] Santamaría reports this “probably” sense from Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico;^[15] Batres called it a blunder and Echeverría y Reyes a barbarism, while Cuervo explained that the word then refers not to the fact itself but to the belief of the speaker.^[14][15] A 1979 record from Yucatán already has it with this sense.^[16] The Academy's dictionary of 2001 put “in a sure way” first and “probably, perhaps” second; the current edition gives the two senses in the opposite order.^[17][18] Moliner notes that it is much used in replies of assent.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – seguramiente in the Poridat de las poridades;^[9] segurament in the Vidal Mayor.^[3]
• 1250–1260 – the Fuero Juzgo has the form seguramientre.^[3]
• 1251–1255 – Alfonso X's Fuero Real uses seguramiente for “in safety”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary writes segura mente in two words.^[9]
• 1575 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[16]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it “surely, securely”.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as “with security, certainty or without risk”.^[11]
• 1959 – Santamaría records the sense “probably” across Spanish America.^[14]
• 2001 – the Academy gives “probably, perhaps” as a second sense.^[17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. probably, most likely: Seguramente llegarán tarde por el tráfico.^[18][20]
2. In a sure or safe way (seguro), with certainty: Lo sabía seguramente.^[18][1]
3. (in replies) surely, very likely: —¿Lloverá esta tarde? —Seguramente.^[19][17]

Related words

• seguro
• seguridad
• asegurar
• Latin sēcūrus

Usage notes

In the conjectural sense the adverb often stands at the head of the sentence and is followed by the indicative.^[18][20] Older purists in Spanish America objected to this use, which Santamaría defended.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. seguramente
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. seguramente
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seguro
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 286
7. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 946
8. ^ 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. seguramente
9. ^ a b c 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. seguramente
10. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 212
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 68
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 660
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 965
14. ^ a b c d Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 967
15. ^ a b Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 504
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. seguramente
17. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. seguramente
18. ^ a b c d 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. seguramente
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seguramente
20. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. seguramente