trece

Forms

trece (invariable as a numeral); as a noun trece m (plural treces)^[1] Old Spanish wrote tredze and treze.^[2][1] DEMel also lists tretze and treçe.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish tredze, inherited from Latin trēdecim (“thirteen”).^[2][4][1] The Latin numeral is a compound of trēs (“three”) and decem (“ten”).^[5][6][7] Old Spanish treze is the later form, beside the older form.^[1][8] An analytic diezetrés (“ten and three”) is very rare: Corominas found it only in a Murcian document of 1272.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese treze, Galician trece, Asturian trelce, Aragonese treze, Catalan tretze, Occitan tretze, French treize and Italian tredici.^[9][8][1] For the Portuguese word Nascentes posits intermediate forms *tredce and *trece.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is tredze in the Auto de los Reyes Magos, of about 1200.^[2] The earliest hit in the CDH is a list of vineyards, the Noticia de viñas (c. 1218–a. 1300): Soma de todas estas vinnas son treze lugares “the sum of all these vineyards is thirteen places”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Besides the number, Covarrubias in 1611 recorded trezes as the name of the thirteen knights of the Order of Santiago named by the Master and the knights gathered in General Chapter.^[12] Autoridades explained that they were so called because thirteen were always chosen, and recorded the phrase estarse en sus trece “to persist stubbornly in something”.^[13] Cervantes already used it in the second part of the Quijote: la Infanta se estaua siempre en sus treze.^[14] Cejador mentions a story that links it with the obstinacy of the antipope Benedict XIII.^[14]

The Academy's 1817 dictionary added the ordinal use (capítulo trece) and trece as each of the thirteen aldermen who once governed some cities.^[15] The 1884 edition gave the etymology and the use for days of the month, el trece de noviembre.^[16] Salvá recorded echarlo todo a trece, the same as echarlo todo a doce, a phrase also found in the Quijote.^[17][14] The modern dictionary adds las trece for one o'clock in the afternoon.^[4] Tagalog trese was borrowed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – tredze in the Auto de los Reyes Magos.^[2]
• c. 1218–a. 1300 – treze in the Noticia de viñas.^[11]
• 1254–1260 – used in Alfonso X's prose.^[18]
• 1272 – the rare diezetrés in a Murcian document.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives treze for Latin tredecim.^[19]
• 1519 – first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico: al trece capítulo.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the trezes of the Order of Santiago.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records estarse en sus trece.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the ordinal use and the thirteen aldermen.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from tredécim.^[16]

Meanings

Numeral

1. thirteen: Me faltan trece páginas.^[4][1]
2. (ordinal) Thirteenth, as in León trece or el trece de mayo.^[4]

Noun

1. The number thirteen, and the figure 13.^[4][1]
2. (historical) Each of the thirteen aldermen who once governed some cities.^[4][21]
3. Each of the knights chosen by their brothers in General Chapter to govern the Order of Santiago.^[4][1]
4. (feminine plural) One o'clock in the afternoon: Comemos a las trece.^[4]

Word family

• treceno
• trecenario
• trecenato
• trecenazgo

Related words

• tres
• diez
• decimotercero
• Latin tredecim
• Portuguese treze

Usage notes

Estar, mantenerse or seguir en sus trece means to stick obstinately to one's opinion or plan.^[4][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 624
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. trece
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. trece
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. trece
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. trece
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6825
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 793
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. treze
11. ^ 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. trece
12. ^ 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. 1347
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 346
14. ^ a b c 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. 1115
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 861
16. ^ 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. 1048
17. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1074
18. ^ 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. trece
19. ^ 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. trece
20. ^ 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. trece
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trece