usufructo

Forms

usufructo m (plural usufructos)^[1] Old Spanish wrote it usofructo, usofruto, vsofruto and uso fruto.^[2][3] Autoridades notes usofruto as the old form.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ūsusfrūctus (“use and enjoyment”), a term of Roman law, made of ūsus (“use”) and frūctus (“fruit, enjoyment”).^[5][1][6][7] The Medieval Latin form was usufructus.^[8] The older Spanish forms usofruto and uso fruto adapted the second part to fruto; the modern spelling follows the Latin.^[9][3]

The first part is the noun of ūtor (“to use”).^[10] The same compound is French usufruit and Italian usufrutto.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in the Vidal Mayor (c. 1250), which translates the Latin heading De usufructu as Auer usofructo “to have usufruct”.^[2] DEMel also gives uso fruto in Maestre Jacobo's Dotrinal (1252–1289).^[3] Corominas's first record is ususfruto in Alfonso de Palencia, 1490.^[6][12]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1739) quotes the Partidas on a man holding the usofruto of an estate for life, and adds the sense “profit or fruits drawn from anything”.^[9] Records from the Americas, mostly in wills and land suits, begin in Cuzco in 1573 with the form usofruto.^[13] The Academy's dictionary has defined it since 1817 as the right to use another's property and enjoy its fruits without impairing it.^[14][5]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor has usofructo.^[2]
• 1252–1289 – uso fruto in Maestre Jacobo's Dotrinal.^[3]
• 1447 – first record in DICCA-XV's texts.^[15]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia writes ususfruto, Corominas's first record.^[6][12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives uso fruto with Latin usufructus.^[15]
• 1573 – first record from the Americas, in Cuzco.^[13]
• 1739 – Autoridades enters usufructo, noting the old form usofruto.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) usufruct: the right to enjoy property belonging to another, with the duty to preserve it unless the law allows otherwise.^[5][1]
2. (law) The profits or fruits drawn from such a right.^[5]
3. The benefit or profit drawn from anything.^[5][16]

Word family

• usufructuar
• usufructuario

Related words

• uso
• fruto
• Latin ūsusfrūctus

Usage notes

The phrase usufructo vidual or viudal names the usufruct a widow or widower inherits.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. usufructo
3. ^ a b c d Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. usufructo
4. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 401
5. ^ 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. usufructo
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 725
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. usufructo
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. usufructus
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 400
10. ^ 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. ūtor
11. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 640
12. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uso
13. ^ a b 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. usofruto
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 873
15. ^ a b 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. usufructo
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. usufructo