sincero

Forms

sincero (feminine sincera, masculine plural sinceros, feminine plural sinceras)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin sincērus (“sound, whole, pure”), first found in Berceo.^[2][3][4][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sm-kair/so- (“whole, intact”), with the first part sem- (“one”), and connects the second with an adjective meaning “whole” seen in caerimōnia and perhaps in caelum; he calls the further link with Proto-Indo-European *keh₂i-r/so- (“whole”) uncertain.^[5] Wiktionary gives that view beside an older one that joins *sem- with *ḱer- (“to grow”).^[1] Monlau repeated the ancient explanation “without wax”, said of honey free of comb.^[6]

The Latin word survives in popular form in Catalan sencer (“whole, intact”), recorded from 1271, and in Aragonese sencero (“intact”).^[7][8] Learned forms like the Spanish one are Italian sincero and French sincère, borrowed in 1441.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to Berceo, about 1220–1250; the DEMel places it in the Vida de San Millán of about 1235.^[2][3][10] The word was rare in the Middle Ages: Alfonso de Palencia defined it as a Latin word with no Castilian equivalent, and Nebrija, Percyvall and Covarrubias lack it.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Corominas finds it again in 1589, in Hernando de Castillo;^[11] Oudin listed it in 1607 with the senses “simple, pure and clean”, and Cervantes used it repeatedly in the Quijote.^[2][11] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as “pure, simple and without duplicity”.^[12] The physical sense “pure, unmixed” was marked as obsolete by the Academy by 1843, and the DLE keeps it as disused; only the moral sense lives on.^[13][4] Since the 17th century the word has spread widely, and it is common in the speech of educated people.^[2] In 1579 a Havana inventory used sinseras of empty jars, meaning sound or intact.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1235 – Berceo uses the word in the Vida de San Millán.^[10][3]
• 1272 – it appears in the General Estoria.^[15]
• 1579 – first record in the Americas, in Havana, of sound jars.^[14]
• 1607 – sinceridad is first recorded, in Oudin.^[3][2]
• 1677 – sincerar is first recorded.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sincere, honest: speaking or acting without pretence: Te voy a ser sincero: no me gustó.^[4][1][16]
2. Genuine, heartfelt (of feelings or words): mi más sincero agradecimiento.^[17]
3. (obsolete) Pure (puro), unmixed.^[4]

Word family

• sinceramente

Related words

• sinceridad
• sincerar
• Catalan sencer
• Latin sincērus

Usage notes

Iriarte and Forner sometimes stressed it on the first syllable, as popular speech did in Chile;^[18] Román held to the stress of Latin, of Cervantes and of the Academy, sincero with stress on the second syllable.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 255
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sincero
4. ^ 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. sincero
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Monlau, Pedro Felipe (1856), Diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana (ensayo), Madrid: Imprenta de la Sociedad Literaria y Tipográfica, p. 412
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, 783
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6142
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sincero
11. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1037
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 118
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 669
14. ^ 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. sincero
15. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. sincero
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sincero
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sincero
18. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 271