uso

Forms

uso m (plural usos)^[1] Old Spanish texts write uso, vso, huso and vsso.^[2]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin ūsus (“use, need, value”).^[3][4][5][1] Corominas notes that the word has been in general use at every period and survives in all the western Romance languages: Portuguese uso, Galician uso, Catalan ús, French us and Italian uso.^[3][6][7][8] In French it now lives mainly in the phrase les us et coutumes.^[9]

The Latin noun is the action noun of ūtor (“to use”), formed with the suffix -tus.^[10][1][11] Cicero has an archaic spelling oesus, and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *oisso- (“used”) beside the verb *oit-; he proposes Proto-Indo-European *h₃eit- (“to take along”) only with a question mark.^[11] The verb usar is not from the noun but from Vulgar Latin *usare, a frequentative of the Latin verb.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) has the plural for one's own needs: el mismo selas espendio con sus usos “he himself spent them on his own needs”.^[12] Corominas's first record is Berceo, who uses it for the employment of money and for a habit: Priso un uso malo el locco peccador “the foolish sinner took up a bad habit”.^[3][4][13]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose has the senses “practice, use of a thing”, “a person's way of acting”, and the customary law of a land, segund el uso & las costumbres de las tierras;^[14] en uso already meant “in force”.^[15] In the Middle Ages it also meant “dealings, familiarity”, as in Juan Ruiz.^[3] In the Americas the legal pair uso y costumbre is recorded from 1525 in Mexico City.^[14] Cervantes quotes the proverb en cada tierra su uso “every land has its own custom”.^[16]

Autoridades gives the action of using, the service a thing renders, and the enjoyment of a thing without owning it.^[17] The Academy's 1884 edition also lists “fashion” and the habit or skill gained by practice; the DLE now marks the sense “fashion in dress” as obsolete, and defines the legal right of use and the customary-law sense.^[18][5]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – Fuero de Zorita de los Canes: con sus usos.^[12]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo, Corominas's first record.^[4][13]
• 1256 – Alfonso X's prose: the customary law of a land.^[15]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City: según uso y costumbre.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades: the action of using; enjoyment without ownership.^[17]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. usus” and the sense “fashion”.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. use: the action of using something: Está prohibido el uso del móvil en clase.^[5][1]
2. The particular, practical purpose a thing is meant for: El bicarbonato tiene muchos usos en la cocina.^[5][19]
3. The ability to use something: Tras el accidente perdió el uso de la mano izquierda.^[5]
4. custom, habit, usage, mostly in the plural: los usos de la época.^[5][19][1]
5. (law) A non-transferable right to take from another's property the produce needed by the user and his family.^[5][19]
6. (law) A form of customary law, less formal than custom, that often coexists with written laws as a supplement.^[5][15]
7. wear: the wearing away of a thing by use.^[1]
8. (obsolete) Fashion in dress and grooming.^[5]

Word family

• desuso

Related words

• usar
• usual
• usura
• abuso
• usufructo
• útil
• inútil
• Latin usus
• Catalan ús

Usage notes

Uso de razón is the ability to reason that a child gains after early childhood, and also the age at which it comes.^[5][19] Al uso means “in the current fashion” or “in the manner of”.^[19][1] Uso is also the first person singular present of usar, which has a separate source.^[1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ 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, 724
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uso
5. ^ 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. uso
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 8, 992
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. us
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
13. ^ a b Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra
14. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
15. ^ 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. uso
16. ^ 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
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
18. ^ 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. 1064
19. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos