siempre

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish siempre, inherited from Latin semper (“always”).^[2][3][1] The same Latin word is Portuguese sempre, Galician sempre, Asturian siempre, Catalan sempre, Occitan sempre and Italian sempre.^[4][1][5] In Old French and Old Occitan the word meant “at once”, a sense Old Catalan sempre also had beside “always”.^[6][7]

The Latin adverb is formed from the root of semel (“once”), *sḗm (“one”), and the suffix -per (“throughout”), also seen in paulisper (“for a little while”); so its first sense was “once and for all”.^[8][1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has the word several times, among them in the line qui a buen señor sirve siempre bive en delicio “whoever serves a good lord always lives in delight”, and the phrase por siempre “for ever”.^[10][11] The first record without a later copy is in the Cortes de Benavente of 1202.^[10] Corominas's Breve diccionario gives the date 1220–1250.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's Lapidario already has por siempre “for ever” and the strengthened siempre jamás.^[12] In 1843 the Academy recorded siempre que “whenever”, also used for “provided that”; its 1884 edition added the sense “in any case, at least”, as in “I may fail, but I will always have the satisfaction of having tried”.^[13][14] Alemany in 1917 recorded the conditional siempre que and siempre y cuando que.^[15]

Latin American Spanish has given the adverb several senses of its own: “finally, in the end” (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia), “decidedly” (Cuba, Colombia, Bolivia), “still” (El Salvador, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia) and “in spite of everything”.^[16] Malaret recorded it for “certainly” in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rico, and in Mexico before sí and no to stress them.^[17] Baralt in 1855 condemned estoy siempre enfermo for “I am still ill” as a Gallicism after French toujours.^[18] Tagalog borrowed the word as siyempre “of course”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – siempre and por siempre in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[10][11]
• 1202 – the Cortes de Benavente, the first record without a later copy.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – the date of first record in Corominas's Breve diccionario.^[2]
• 1250–1279 – por siempre and siempre jamás in Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin semper and usque as its equivalents;^[19][2] siempreviva is first recorded.^[19][2]
• 1532 – the first record from the Americas, in Panama.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as an adverb of continuing time.^[21]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “in any case, at least”.^[14]

Meanings

Adverb

1. always: at all times, or at any time: Siempre desayuna a las siete.^[3][1]
2. In any case, at least: Aunque pierda, siempre habrá aprendido algo.^[3][1]
3. (Colombia, Cuba, Bolivia) decidedly, definitely.^[3][16]
4. (Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia; colloquial) Finally, in the end.^[16][1]
5. (El Salvador, Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia; colloquial) still.^[16]

Word family

• siempreviva

Related words

• sempiterno
• Latin semper
• Portuguese sempre

Usage notes

Set phrases include para siempre “for ever, for good”, por siempre “for ever and ever” and siempre jamás.^[3][12] Siempre que means “whenever” and, with the subjunctive, “provided that”, as does siempre y cuando.^[15][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. siempre
3. ^ a b c d e 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. siempre
4. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 732
5. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. siempre
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7814
7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 773
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. siempre
10. ^ 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. siempre
11. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. siempre
12. ^ 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. siempre
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 667
14. ^ 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. 975
15. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1513
16. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. siempre
17. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 739
18. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 656
19. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 416
20. ^ 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. siempre
21. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1297