treinta

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish treinta, inherited from Latin trīgintā (“thirty”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas assumes that the Latin form was replaced by a Vulgar Latin variant with a changed vowel, perhaps under the influence of trēs, as in the other Romance languages, and that the stressed /i/ of the old pronunciation /treˈinta/ is due to veinte;^[2][3] Asturian still keeps it.^[2][3] Nascentes explains the Portuguese form in a similar way.^[5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese trinta, Galician trinta, Catalan trenta, Aragonese trenta, Occitan trenta, French trente and Italian trenta.^[6][7]

The Latin numeral is formed from the word for “three” and the element -gintā (“tens”),^[8][9] and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *tridḱómt (“thirty”), cognate with Ancient Greek τριάκοντα (triákonta) and Sanskrit त्रिंशत् (triṃśát).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has dámosvos en don a vós treinta marcos “we give you thirty marks as a gift”.^[10][2] The earliest hit with no later copy is a charter dated in the era of 1335 with the form trinta.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades records treinta also as the name of a card game in which players ask for cards until they make thirty points.^[11] Salvá added the games treinta y cuarenta and the colloquial ponerse a treinta “to get tipsy”,^[12] and the 1884 Academy dictionary gave it also as an ordinal (año treinta, el treinta de enero).^[13] In Ecuador treinta y uno is a dish of beef tripe.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (14th-century copy).^[10][2]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán (18th-century copy).^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario writes trenta.^[15]
• 1545 – the first record from the Americas, treynte e ocho pesos in Puebla.^[16]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the card game.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. triginta”.^[13]

Meanings

Numeral

1. thirty: three times ten: Faltan treinta minutos para el tren.^[4][1]
2. Thirtieth (trigésimo), in a series: el capítulo treinta; also for the thirtieth day of a month.^[4]

Noun

1. The number thirty and the figure 30.^[4]
2. A card game in which players try to reach thirty points without going over.^[4][17]

Word family

• treintena
• treintavo
• treintenario

Related words

• tres
• trigésimo
• Latin triginta

References

1. ^ a b c d 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, 624
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tres
4. ^ a b c d e 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. treinta
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. trinta
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. triginta
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6844
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. trīgintā
9. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. treinta
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. treinta
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 347
12. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1074
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. treinta
15. ^ 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. treinta
16. ^ 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. teinta
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. treinta