todavía

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish toda + vía, “the whole way”.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes it as inherited from the phrase Latin tōta via (“always”), and DICCA-XV from the same phrase in the accusative, “always, at every step”.^[1][5] todo continues Latin tōtus, and vía continues the Latin noun for “road, way”.^[3][6]

The same phrase is Portuguese todavia “however”, Italian tuttavia and Old French totesvoies, later replaced by French toutefois.^[1][7][3] In Italian and French too the sense “always” turned into “nevertheless”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first records are in Berceo (1220–1250), with the sense “always, constantly, at every step”.^[3][8] The CDH's first hit is a charter of 1218–1252 with Latin phrasing: Et todauia ser rezebidos in nostro beneficio “and always to be received into our benefice”.^[9] The DEMel has an earlier record, Todavia, in a Navarrese document of 1157.^[10] In the Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240, in a 14th-century copy) the young man asks todavía dubdando “still doubting”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “always” was general until the 16th century.^[8][3] Alfonso X used por toda vía for “forever”, and the DPCAX finds “nevertheless” already in the second part of the Estoria de España (1284–1345).^[11] For Corominas both later senses are much later: “nevertheless” from 1570, in Cristóbal de las Casas, then Percyvall, Oudin and Luis de Granada;^[4] “still, yet” in the second part of the Quijote (1615), with an isolated example in the Libro de Apolonio.^[3][8] He explains that “by all roads” became “at all times”, and that “before and now too” became “even now”, as with French toujours.^[8]

The Academy's dictionary of 1899 gave the etymology “De toda y vía” and listed “always” as antiquated.^[4] In 1855 Baralt and in 1875 Rodríguez in Chile condemned todavía in the sense “moreover, again” as a translation of French encore.^[12][13] In Bolivia and Paraguay todavía alone can mean “not yet”.^[14]

Timeline

• 1218–1252 – the CDH's first hit, in a charter with Latin phrasing.^[9]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it for “always”.^[3][8]
• 1280 – Alfonso X's General Estoria has por toda vía “forever”.^[11]
• 1532 – the first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• 1570 – Cristóbal de las Casas renders it with Italian niente di meno “nevertheless”.^[3]
• 1615 – the second part of the Quijote uses it for “still, yet”.^[3][8]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary marks the sense “always” as antiquated.^[4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. still, yet: up to a given moment from an earlier time: Todavía vive en el pueblo.^[2][16][1]
2. nevertheless, all the same: Me ha fallado, pero todavía confío en él.^[2]
3. With a concessive sense, correcting what was said before.^[2]
4. even, still, with comparatives: Hoy hace todavía más frío.^[2][16][1]
5. (disused) always (siempre).^[2]
6. (Bolivia, Paraguay) Not yet.^[14]

Related words

• todo
• vía
• siempre
• Portuguese todavia
• Italian tuttavia

Usage notes

Popular variants include Asturian tovía and entovía, and entodavía, (en)tuavía, (en)toadía and entadía elsewhere; in Albacete entodavía means “not yet”.^[3] The Old Spanish texts write it as one word or two: toda uia, todauia, toda vía.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. todavía
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 528
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 965
5. ^ 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. todavía
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3311
8. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. todo
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. todavía
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. todavía
11. ^ 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. todavía
12. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 691
13. ^ Rodríguez, Zorobabel (1875), Diccionario de chilenismos, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de El Independiente
14. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. todavía
15. ^ 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. tavía
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. todavía