usurero

Forms

usurero m (plural usureros, feminine usurera, feminine plural usureras)^[1]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin ūsūrārius (“of interest, of usury”), probably as a semi-learned word.^[2][1][3] García de Diego treats this word as the popular outcome, with the suffix -ero, and usurario as the learned form of the same Latin word.^[3] Older etymologists derived it from usura.^[4] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of uso, under the noun.^[5][6]

The same Latin word is Portuguese usureiro, Galician usureiro, Catalan usurer, French usurier and Italian usuraio.^[3][7] The Latin adjective is from ūsūra (“use; interest”) and -ārius, and the noun from ūtor (“to use”).^[1][8][9]

Corominas thinks that this word or its old variant Old Spanish osurero gave, by dissimilation, archaic Basque ontzoeri (“moneylender”) and the Romance onzonero used in Asturias.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's Siete Partidas (1256–1265) and his Libro de las leyes use usurero for one who lends at usury.^[11][12] DEMel cites earlier records from the vocabulary of the Libro de Alexandre through secondary sources only.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1739) quotes Gracián and Quevedo, and notes an adjectival use equal to usurario; the Academy later marked that use as obsolete.^[13][14][2] The extended sense, anyone who takes excessive profit in a deal, was added to the definition later.^[2][15] In the Americas logreros y usureros are named together in Cartagena in 1535.^[16]

Timeline

• 1256–1265 – the Siete Partidas use usurero.^[11]
• 1280 – the fourth part of Alfonso X's General estoria.^[17]
• 1490 – Corominas's first record, in Alfonso de Palencia.^[5][6]
• 1535 – first record from the Americas, in Cartagena.^[16]
• 1739 – Autoridades quotes Gracián and Quevedo.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A usurer, moneylender: a person who lends at usury (usura) or excessive interest.^[2][1]
2. A person who makes excessive profit in any contract or business.^[2][18]

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Usurious (usurario), relating to usury.^[2]

Related words

• usura
• usurario
• uso
• Latin ūsūrārius

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. usurero
3. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6996
4. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 641
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 724
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. uso
7. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 813
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ūsūrārius
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 725
11. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. usurero
12. ^ 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. usurero
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 401
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 873
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. usurero
16. ^ 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. usurero
17. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. usurero
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. usurero