suyo

Forms

suyo m sg (plural suyos, feminine suya, feminine plural suyas)^[1] Old Spanish texts also have suo, suio, sua and the short plural sos.^[2] Old Spanish so served for both suyo and su.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish súo, inherited from Latin suus (“his, her, their own”).^[4][5] The form súo is recorded in the 11th century, and suyo appears about 1140, with the unstressed su beside it.^[4][5][6] The ⟨y⟩ is explained in different ways.^[5][1][3] The DLE and Moliner see the influence of cuyo, from cuius (“whose”).^[5][7] Wiktionary takes suyo from the short form su, remade on the model of mío.^[1] Gómez de Silva says the masculine was formed on the feminine suya.^[3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese seu, Catalan seu, French son, Italian suo and Romanian său.^[8][1] The Portuguese and Catalan forms were remade on the possessive of the first person: Catalan from a late Vulgar Latin *seus made on meus (“my”), the Galician-Portuguese form on meu, replacing the archaic Old Galician-Portuguese sou.^[9][10]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *sowos, from Proto-Indo-European *sewos, from *swé (“self”).^[1][11] Its cognates include Ancient Greek ἑός (heós, “his own”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌴𐍃 (swēs, “one's own”) and Sanskrit स्व (sva, “one's own”).^[1][11] Early Latin inscriptions still have forms with ⟨sou-⟩.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates súo to the 11th century and suyo and su to the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140).^[4][2] Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) uses it as a noun, lo suyo “its own nature”, of a stone that loses la uertud de lo suyo “the virtue of its own”, and has the phrase de suyo “of itself, naturally”, of hot springs.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In the General estoria (1280) los suyos already means a person's own people, his family, followers and dependants.^[12] In 1739 the Diccionario de Autoridades recorded this plural, and the feminine la suya for a person's intention or will, as in salirse con la suya “to get one's way”.^[13] The Academy's 1817 edition added de suyo “naturally, of itself” and the phrase lo suyo y lo ajeno for a great talker, spender or a greedy person.^[14] Hacer uno de las suyas “to be up to one's usual tricks” appears in the 1884 edition.^[15] Moliner records muy suyo for a selfish person and for an independent one who is not easily influenced.^[7]

With usted and ustedes, the third-person possessive also means “yours”.^[5][1]

Timeline

• 11th century – the older form súo.^[4]
• c. 1140 – suyo and the unstressed su in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[4][2]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has lo suyo and de suyo.^[12]
• 1280 – the General estoria uses los suyos for a king's people.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin suus as its equivalent.^[16]
• 1516 – the first record from the Americas, in Darién.^[17]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records salirse con la suya and los suyos.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary records hacer uno de las suyas.^[15]

Meanings

Determiner

1. his, her, its, their: belonging to him, her, it or them, placed after the noun or after ser: Un primo suyo vive en Lima.^[5][7][1]
2. (formal) your, of usted or ustedes: ¿Es suyo este paraguas, señora?^[5][1]

Pronoun

1. (with the article) hers, his, theirs;^[5][1] (formal) yours: Mi bicicleta es roja y la suya es azul.^[5][1]
2. los suyos: a person's family, friends or followers.^[7][13]
3. la suya: one's own will or wish, as in salirse con la suya “to get one's way”.^[13][1]
4. de las suyas: the tricks or misdeeds typical of a person, as in hacer de las suyas.^[5][7]

Word family

• de suyo

Related words

• mío
• tuyo
• nuestro
• vuestro
• mi
• tu
• su
• cuyo
• sí
• Latin suus
• Portuguese seu

Usage notes

Suyo is always stressed and follows the noun; before the noun the short form su is used.^[7][4] The phrase de suyo means “in itself, by its nature”.^[5][7] In north-western Argentina suyo, a variant of sullo, means an unborn calf taken from the cow when she is slaughtered.^[18][19] Santamaría records it as a variant of sullo, beside a historical suyo “share of work given to Indians”, which he derives from Quechua suyu (“part, province”).^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. suyo
3. ^ a b c Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 666
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sí
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. suyo
6. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 759
7. ^ a b c d e f g Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. suyo
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8493a
9. ^ 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, 883
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. seu
11. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d 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. suyo
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 195
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 823
15. ^ 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. 1000
16. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 419
17. ^ 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. suyo
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. suyo
19. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 752
20. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 108