uno

Forms

uno m sg (plural unos, feminine una, feminine plural unas)^[1] Before a masculine noun the apocopated form un is used: un libro.^[2][3] Old Spanish texts also spell it vno, vna and vn.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ūnus (“one; only one; single”), Old Spanish uno.^[3][5][6][1] The indefinite article un has the same origin: it was at first only the apocopated form of the numeral, and in every Romance language it has become a plain article.^[3][5] Medieval Latin already used unus as an article, and Du Cange quotes it in a Spanish charter in the sense “a certain”.^[7][8]

The same word is Portuguese um, Galician un, Asturian ún, Catalan u or un, French un and Italian uno.^[9][10][1] The Portuguese form comes through Old Portuguese ũu; the modern um became general only in the 17th century.^[10] Catalan distinguishes stressed u from unstressed un.^[9]

ūnus comes from Old Latin oinos, Proto-Italic *oinos and Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos “one, single”.^[1][11] De Vaan compares Old Irish óen, Welsh un, Ancient Greek οἰνή (oinḗ, “the one at dice”) and Lithuanian víenas.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both uno and un are usual from the earliest texts, the Glosas Silenses and the Cantar de mio Cid; the BDELC dates the first record to the end of the 10th century.^[3][5] In Alfonso X's Lapidario it means “one and the same” (an una natura & una uertud) and “only one” (non fallaron mas de una sola).^[12]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish also used the short form in other functions, as in un e uno “one and the other, all” in the Libro de Alexandre.^[3] Alfonso X used it distributively against otro (unas … grandes & otras pequennas).^[12]

Autoridades defined the noun as the beginning and root of all number, the first figure, and any individual of a kind.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1869 recorded the plural unos before a number in the sense “about” (unos cien reales), the indefinite pronoun for a person not named, the speaker's use of uno for himself, and the indefinite article.^[14] Batres in Guatemala advised women to say una when speaking of themselves, though Saint Teresa usually wrote uno.^[15]

In Chile del uno means “first-rate”, and in Peru and Bolivia el uno is a children's word for urine.^[16]

Timeline

• 900s – uno and un are found in the Glosas Silenses.^[3][5]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses both forms.^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for “the same” and “only one”.^[12]
• 1512 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[17]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as the root of all number.^[13]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary describes un as an indefinite article.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy gives its etymology, Latin unus.^[18]

Meanings

Numeral

1. one: Solo queda una silla.^[6][1]
2. first, of the days of the month: el uno de mayo.^[6]

Determiner

1. (plural) some, a few: Compré unas naranjas.^[6][19]
2. (plural, before a number) About, roughly: Tardó unos veinte minutos.^[6][19]

Pronoun

1. One (of a group): Uno de los niños lloraba.^[6][1]
2. The same, one and the same: Los dos hermanos son uno.^[6]
3. Someone, a person; also the speaker speaking of himself or herself: Uno ya no sabe qué pensar.^[19][20]
4. Used with otro to distribute: Unos cantaban y otros bailaban.^[19][20]

Noun

1. (masculine) The number one; the unit; the figure 1.^[6]
2. (masculine) The face or card marked with one sign in dice, dominoes or cards.^[6]
3. (feminine, la una) One o'clock: Comemos a la una.^[6]

Related words

• un
• único
• unidad
• unir
• unión
• aunar
• once
• alguno
• ninguno
• Latin unus

Usage notes

Before a masculine noun the form is always un: un perro, but uno de los perros.^[2][3] When uno refers to the speaker, a woman says una.^[19][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 709
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 715
4. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. uno
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uno
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. uno
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. unus
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. unus
9. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6982
10. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3425
11. ^ a b 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. unus
12. ^ a b c 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. uno
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 393
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 774
15. ^ a b Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 540
16. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. uno
17. ^ 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. uno
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 996
19. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uno
20. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. uno