usura

Forms

usura f (plural usuras)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote vsura, husura, osura and ossura.^[2] Osura was still used in the Cortes of 1528 and in Mexico City in 1571, and the Rimado de Palacio has a variant usuria.^[3][4]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin ūsūra (“use, enjoyment; interest”), which has the same form.^[3][5][6][1] The same Latin word is Portuguese usura, Galician usura, Catalan usura, Old Occitan uzura, French usure and Italian usura.^[7][8]

The Latin noun is formed from ūtor (“to use”) with the suffix -ūra.^[9][1] It first meant the enjoyment of a thing, later the employment of money lent and the interest paid for it.^[9][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–1250), which rules that a debt de usura, “at interest”, may never grow beyond double within the year.^[12] DEMel cites dar a usura, “to lend at interest”, from the Fuero de Plasencia of 1221, and Berceo's Milagros use the word for a loan that a ruined man can no longer find.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word was mainly legal: the law codes of Navarre and Aragon deal with usuras and the logrero who lends at interest, and the prose of Alfonso X counts usury among the dealings that cannot be practised without mortal sin.^[12][13] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1739) defined it as the interest that makes a loan unlawful, and also, figuratively, as any gain drawn from something, and called it a purely Latin word.^[14] In 1869 the Academy noted that the figurative sense was usually understood of excessive interest; the 1884 edition gave excessive gain on a loan as a sense of its own, and the 1899 edition recorded the phrase pagar con usura, “to repay with interest”, that is, with more than one received.^[15][16][17]

Today excessive interest is the main sense, and the DLE also gives a sense “wear, deterioration”.^[6][18] In Argentina it has meant an advantage in a deal or a bet.^[19][20]

Timeline

• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes limits debts de usura.^[12]
• 1221 – the Fuero de Plasencia has dar a usura, according to DEMel.^[2]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses the word, Corominas's first record.^[3][5]
• 1256–1300 – the prose of Alfonso X names usury as a sinful dealing.^[13]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia uses usurero “usurer”.^[3][5]
• 1535 – first record from the Americas, logros e usuras in Cartagena.^[4]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades calls it a purely Latin word.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy records pagar con usura.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. Excessive interest on a loan: Le prestaban dinero con una usura que lo arruinó.^[6][21]
2. Any gain, profit or increase drawn from something, especially an excessive one.^[6]
3. (historical) The unlawful interest charged on money or goods lent in a loan contract; also the contract itself.^[6][22]
4. (formal) wear, deterioration.^[6][18]
5. (Argentina) An advantage, as in a deal or a bet.^[19][20]

Word family

• usurero
• usurario

Related words

• uso
• usar
• Portuguese usura
• English usury

Usage notes

The phrase pagar con usura means to repay a favour with a greater one, or with great gratitude.^[6][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. usura
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 724
4. ^ 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. osura
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uso
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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. usura
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ūsūra
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. usura
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 813
12. ^ 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. usura
13. ^ a b 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. usura
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 401
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 776
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1065
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 998
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. usura
19. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 805
20. ^ a b Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 1101
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. usura
22. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. usura