tan

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish tan, which Corominas thinks most likely continues inherited from Latin tantum (“so much”), the neuter of the adjective meaning “so great”, shortened when it stood unstressed before an adjective or adverb, in the way muy comes from multum.^[2][3] The Academy likewise treats the word as the shortened form of tanto used before adjectives and adverbs.^[4][5] Wiktionary and the REW instead derive it from the adverb Latin tam (“so, so much”), which had the same use as the Romance word.^[1][6] Corominas holds that the question cannot be decided, and DICCA-XV sees a merging of the two sources.^[2][7]

The same short adverb is Portuguese tão, Catalan tan and Occitan tan.^[2][8][6] Old Catalan wavered between tant and the short form, mostly with the longer one.^[2]

The Latin adverb goes back to Proto-Italic *tām (“so”) and Proto-Indo-European *teh₂m, and the adjective to *tānto- (“so great”).^[9] Wiktionary explains the PIE form as an accusative of the feminine demonstrative *séh₂.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) already has the word: De los sos ojos tan fuertemientre llorando “weeping so bitterly from his eyes”.^[10] In the poem tan compares with a correlative, as in tan blancas commo el sol “as white as the sun”, but it also stands alone with the sense “very”, as in fabló bien e tan mesurado “he spoke well and very wisely”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The adverb has kept both medieval uses, the comparison of equality with como and the intensifying “so”.^[11][12] Alfonso X's prose already treats it as the shortened form of tanto.^[13] Nebrija gave it as an adverb of comparison, rendered by Latin tam, and Covarrubias noted that it sometimes means the same as tanto.^[14][15] Autoridades called it a comparative particle from Latin tam that also heightens the meaning of the word it goes with.^[12] The Academy's 1884 dictionary first called it an apocope of tanto and noted that it modifies adjectives and adverbs but not verbs.^[5] Today it also introduces exclamations after qué with a noun.^[16]

Old Spanish formed también “also” (1200) and tampoco “neither” (early 13th century) with it.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses tan both in comparisons and in the sense “very”.^[10][11]
• 1200 – first record of the compound también.^[3]
• early 13th century – first record of tampoco.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it as the shortened form of tanto.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija calls it an adverb of comparison, Latin tam.^[14][7]
• 1611 – Covarrubias says it sometimes equals tanto.^[15]
• 1739 – Autoridades derives it from Latin tam.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary calls it an apocope of tanto.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. so, as: in a comparison of equality with como or cuanto, before an adjective or adverb: Su coche es tan viejo como el mío.^[4][16][1]
2. So, to such a degree, often followed by a clause with que: Estaba tan cansada que se durmió en el tren.^[4][5][1]
3. In exclamations after qué and a noun, it heightens the quality named: ¡Qué tarde tan fría!^[16]
4. tan siquiera: at least, even.^[5]

Word family

• también
• tampoco

Related words

• tanto
• Latin tam
• Latin tantus
• Portuguese tão

Usage notes

Tan is unstressed and is used only before adjectives, adverbs and phrases that work like them, never alone or after a verb, where tanto is used; before más, menos, mayor, menor, mejor and peor the full form tanto stays.^[4][16]

The DLE lists two other words spelled tan.^[17] One is a noun, usually repeated, for the sound of a drum or a similar instrument struck with blows; it is an imitative word, and Autoridades already recorded it.^[17][12] The other is a noun for the bark of the holm oak, borrowed from French tan, which the DLE traces to a Celtic word for “oak”.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 407
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tanto
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. tanto
5. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1007
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8546
7. ^ a b 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. tan
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. tam
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. tam
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. tan
11. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. tan
12. ^ 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, 221
13. ^ 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. tan
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 420
15. ^ 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. 1318
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tan
17. ^ a b c 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. tan