simple

Forms

simple m or f (masculine and feminine plural simples)^[1] Old Spanish texts also write sinple and synple.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin simplus (“simple, single”) according to Corominas.^[3][4] The DLE derives it instead from the Latin adverb simple (“simply”), formed from that adjective, and Wiktionary and Bénaben from the more common simplex.^[5][1][6]

Corominas finds the final vowel hard to explain. French simple is usually taken as a semi-learned outcome of the accusative of the more common adjective, and Portuguese simples has the same source, as its old spelling simplez shows; but in Castilian that accusative would have kept a final consonant, as juez did.^[3][3][7] simple, Catalan simple (also ximple) and Italian scempio come from the same base as the Spanish word.^[3] Rather than a loan from Occitan or Catalan, he thinks the Spanish word was modelled on doble, from duplus, as triple and later words were.^[3]

The adjective in -plex is formed from sim-, the element seen in semel (“once”) and semper (“always”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”), and -plex (“-fold”), and the one in -plus in the same way with -plus.^[1][8] The second element belongs with plectō (“to plait, fold”).^[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from Berceo (1220–1250), who has it in its literal sense in the Milagros: vidieron un miraclo non simple ca doblado, “they saw a miracle not single but double”.^[3][4] In Berceo's Sacrificio de la misa it means “innocent”: El corderuelo simple, que non faze nul mal, “the innocent little lamb that does no harm”.^[10][11] The CDH has an earlier hit in the Liber Regum (c. 1194–1211, in a copy of the early 13th century), the byname of the king Charle el Simple.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the prose of Alfonso X the adjective means “naive, innocent”, “plain”, and “pure, unmixed”, and a beneficio simple is a church benefice without the cure of souls.^[12] Nebrija glossed it “a thing not doubled”.^[13] Covarrubias (1611) gives the philosophers' sense “without mixture or composition”, the simples or medicinal herbs, and the man of Scripture “without guile”, and notes that it sometimes means a fool, being like a child or a blank tablet.^[14] Autoridades documents “simpleton” from 1542.^[3] The Academy's 1869 edition notes that the word is also used as a noun in the senses “unwary” and “simpleton”.^[15]

Today the literal sense belongs to the literary language, while “simpleton” is also common in popular speech.^[3] In Asturias it can mean “vain, boastful”.^[3][16] In Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay food that is simple lacks salt; in Chile an infusion is weak, and in El Salvador a sweet drink lacks sugar.^[17] In Puerto Rico the sense “easy, not complicated” is described as an adapted anglicism, in the Academy's dictionary since 1992.^[18] Tagalog, Central Bikol and Chavacano have borrowed the word.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1194–1211 – the byname Charle el Simple in the Liber Regum, in an early 13th-century copy.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it for “single” and “innocent”.^[3][4]
• c. 1240–1272 – Herman el Alemán's psalter, the CDH's first hit without a later copy.^[10]
• 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas uses it for “plain, simple”.^[12]
• c. 1280 – the noun simpleza.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: cosa no doblada, Latin simplex.^[13]
• 1542 – the sense “simpleton”.^[3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the simples of medicine.^[14]
• 1739 – Autoridades derives it from simplex and simplus.^[19]
• 1992 – the sense “easy” enters the Academy's dictionary, according to the Tesoro of Puerto Rico.^[18]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made of a single element, not compound: un cuerpo simple.^[5][1]
2. simple, easy, without complications: La respuesta era muy simple.^[5][1]
3. (before the noun) Mere, ordinary: No es más que un simple resfriado.^[1][20]
4. Of a copy of a deed: made without signature or authentication, as in copia simple.^[5][20]
5. Insipid, lacking seasoning;^[5][17] (Latin America) lacking salt or sugar, weak.^[5][17]
6. Meek, gentle and unwary; simple-minded, foolish (also used as a noun).^[5][1]
7. (grammar) Of a word or tense: not compound, as in tiempo simple.^[5][1]
8. (Argentina) Of a sandwich: made with two slices of sliced bread (also used as a noun).^[5][17]

Noun

1. A simpleton, a fool.^[1][5]
2. (medicine) A medicinal herb or drug: a substance that serves as a medicine on its own or as an ingredient of one.^[5][1]

Word family

• simpleza
• simplón
• simplemente
• simplismo
• simplista

Related words

• simplicidad
• simplificar
• doble
• Latin simplex
• Portuguese simples
• French simple

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. simple
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 254
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. simple
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. simple
6. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. simple
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3096
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. simple
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 716
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. simple
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 417
14. ^ 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. 1301
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 714
16. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. simple
17. ^ 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. simple
18. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. simple
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 116
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. simple