temprano

Forms

temprano (feminine temprana, masculine plural tempranos, feminine plural tempranas, superlative tempranísimo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish temprano, also written tenprano, inherited from Vulgar Latin temporānus (“happening in good time”).^[2][3][4][5] The Vulgar Latin form is found, meaning done in time, in a work of Saint Augustine, where other manuscripts read temporāneus, the Late Latin form the DLE derives it from.^[2][4][6] Used as a noun, the neuter temporāneum meant fruit that ripens early, and in the Latin Epistle of James the early rain.^[7][6][8]

In turn it is formed from Latin tempus (“time”) + -āneus.^[9][1] Spanish tiempo continues the noun, and Corominas treats the adjective in the article on that word.^[2][3]

Only Ibero-Romance kept the word: Portuguese temporão, Galician temperán and Asturian tempranu.^[2][1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates it to the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy), where it is an adverb, “early”, in line 420.^[2][3][11] The first primary record in the DEMel is tenprano in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (1200–1250).^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's histories the adjective already described early fruit, the first figs of the season, and the adverb meant both “early in the day” and “ahead of time”: the Cid orders barley to be given to the horses early, so that the men can go to sleep.^[12] Nebrija's Vocabulario of 1495 has both, the adverb glossed “before time” and the adjective for what ripens early.^[13][14]

Autoridades gave the adjective and the adverb separate articles, and quoted Mármol on vines so early that no grapes were left by the end of June.^[15] It also recorded the proverb No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano “getting up early won't make the sun rise sooner”.^[15][16] By 1899 the Academy defined the adverb as “in the first hours of the day or night”, with the example levantarse temprano.^[17] The DLE now also has the masculine noun temprano, a field of early crops, and a biological sense, “at an early stage of development”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses temprano as an adverb.^[2][3]
• 1200–1250 – tenprano in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar.^[5]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses tempranos of early figs.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses the adverb intempestive and the adjective for fruit that ripens early.^[14]
• 1587 – first record from the Americas, in Guadalajara.^[18]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the proverb No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from Latin temporaneus.^[19]
• 1899 – the Academy defines the adverb as “in the first hours of the day or night”.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. early; coming or happening before the usual or expected time: una helada temprana.^[4][1][20]
2. (biology) At an early stage of its development.^[4]

Noun

1. A field or planting of early crops.^[4][20]

Adverb

1. Early, in the first hours of the day or night, and by extension at the beginning of any period: Salimos temprano para evitar el calor.^[4][1]
2. Before the right, agreed or usual time; too soon: Llegué temprano y tuve que esperar.^[4][20]

Word family

• tempranero
• tempranal

Related words

• tiempo
• temporal
• Portuguese temporão

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, 486
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tiempo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. temprano
5. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. temprano
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. temporaneus
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. temprano
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. temporaneus
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 677
10. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. tempranu
11. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 455
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. temprano
13. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 421
14. ^ 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. temprano
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 244
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 835
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 951
18. ^ 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. temprano
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1016
20. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. temprano