valor

Forms

valor m (plural valores)^[1] Old Spanish wrote ualor, valor and balor.^[2] Its gender is not clear in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin valor (“worth, value”).^[4][5][1] Old Spanish had the same form, valor.^[1][2] The Late Latin noun is formed from Latin valeō (“to be strong; to be worth”) + -or.^[1][6] In medieval Latin valor meant “validity”, “value, price”, “courage” and “rank”.^[7] The same word is Portuguese valor, Catalan valor, French valeur, Italian valore and Romanian valoare.^[1] Nascentes calls the Portuguese word learned.^[8]

De Vaan derives valeō from *wal-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂ulh₁-eh₁- (“to be strong”), with cognates such as Old Irish flaith (“rule, sovereignty”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has it for the worth of goods: the Infantes plan to take averes … grandes que valen grant valor “great riches of great worth”.^[10] In the same poem it also means “valour” and “a person's merit”, as in ganaredes grand prez e grand valor “you will win great honour and great esteem”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Berceo uses it for price and for esteem.^[11] Alfonso X's prose has it for the merit, usefulness or price of people and things.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades calls it voz puramente Latina “a purely Latin word”.^[13] It gives three senses: the quality that makes a thing worthy of esteem, the price matching that esteem, and the spirit that despises fear.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 adds the validity of an act, the efficacy of things, the yield of an estate and the equivalence of coins.^[14] Salvá in 1846 records the old phrase un dinero valor “a farthing, nothing”.^[15]

In 1869 the Academy added the economists' sense, the exchange value of useful things, and the bad sense of “daring, effrontery”.^[16] By 1917 the dictionaries also had the musical sense, the length of a note.^[17] The DLE now includes values in philosophy, a gifted person (un joven valor) and, in the plural, financial securities.^[5] In Chile ¡valor! is an exclamation, especially among women, about something unpleasant, and in Uruguay a greeting.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it for worth, valour and merit.^[10][3]
• 1221 – the Fueros of Villavicencio, the first record in a document of its own time.^[10]
• c. 1236 – Berceo has malos e de poco valor “wicked and of little worth”.^[10]
• 1444 – the adjective valeroso, probably a dissimilated *valoroso.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses valor de precio with Latin pretium and valor.^[19]
• 1548 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[20]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives value, price and courage.^[13]
• 1739 – the verb valorar is first recorded.^[4]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the economic sense and the sense “effrontery”.^[16]
• 1917 – Alemany records the musical sense.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. value: the usefulness of things for meeting needs or giving pleasure.^[5][1]
2. worth: the quality for which a sum of money is given to own a thing: un cuadro de mucho valor.^[5][1]
3. The import or significance of a thing, act, word or phrase.^[5]
4. Validity of an act.^[5]
5. Efficacy, power of things to produce their effect.^[5]
6. The yield or income of an estate or office.^[5]
7. The equivalence of one thing to another, especially of coins.^[5]
8. courage, bravery; also daring, effrontery: Hace falta valor para presentarse aquí después de lo que hizo.^[5][1]
9. A person thought to have the gifts for an activity: un nuevo valor del tenis.^[5]
10. (philosophy) A quality that makes some realities estimable.^[5]
11. (music) The length of a note.^[5]
12. (painting) The relative lightness or darkness of each tone.^[5]
13. (finance, in the plural) Securities, shares and bonds.^[5][1]

Word family

• avalorar
• valeroso
• valorar
• valorización
• valorizar
• valoración
• desvalorizar
• revalorizar

Related words

• avaluar
• devaluar
• evaluar
• valencia
• valentía
• valer
• valiente
• Late Latin valor

Usage notes

Valor absoluto is the absolute value of a number, and valor añadido (Latin America valor agregado) “value added”.^[5][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. valor
3. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 476
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. valer
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. valor
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 714
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. valor
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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. valor
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 774
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. valor
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 417
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 876
15. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1094
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 779
17. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1640
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. valor
19. ^ 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. valor
20. ^ 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. valor