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vano

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word vano

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1200 Almerich, La fazienda de Ultra Mar, in a 13th-century copy More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin vanus
Ultimate origin
Latin vānus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vānus
English vain
French vain
Spanish vano
From the same root
Latin vānēscō ← vānus
Latin vānitās ← vānus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbano/, [ˈba.no][1]

Forms

vano (feminine vana, masculine plural vanos, feminine plural vanas)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vānus (“empty, hollow; vain”).[2][3][4][1] Corominas notes that the word survives in all the western Romance languages, in several with unmistakably inherited forms, and sees no reason to doubt that it is inherited in Castilian too, given its many derivatives of popular appearance.[3] The same word is Portuguese vão, Galician van, Catalan va, French vain and Italian vano.[5][6]

De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wāno- with several possible preforms in the parent language, and compares Sanskrit and Avestan words for “empty, deficient”.[7] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty, leave, abandon”) and gives Proto-Germanic *wanaz (“lacking”) as a cognate.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH and the DEMel is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in Pharaoh's dream, where seven thin ears blighted by the hot wind devour the full ones: comyan las vanas a las gruessas “the empty ones ate the fat ones”.[8][9] About 1215 the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca uses it for “illusory”: La visión non era vana “the vision was not false”.[8] Corominas's first record is Berceo, the BDELC dates it to 1220–1250.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has been very frequent from the start, mostly in moral and figurative senses, though a material one occurs in Juan Ruiz, whose wolf keeps the carcass of the bull for himself on the pretext that it is hollow (vana).[3] Alfonso X's prose has “unreal”, “empty” of grain, “useless” (fablar en uano “to speak in vain”) and “unstable”.[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds “arrogant, presumptuous”, and used as a noun un vano meant “a frivolous man” in the Guzmán de Alfarache.[11][3]

As a noun in building, vano was first the part of a wall with no support for the roof, such as the openings of doors and windows; the DLE now defines it as the clear distance between two supports and the span of a bridge.[12][2][3] In the Dominican Republic vano means “weak, faint”, and in Tenerife it names a whitish soil formed from weathered tuff.[13][14][15]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has comyan las vanas a las gruessas.[8][9]
  • c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca has La visión non era vana.[8]
  • 1220–1250 – Berceo, Corominas's first record.[3][4]
  • 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria describes empty ears of grain as uanas.[10]
  • 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme.[16]
  • 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it.[11]
  • 2001 – the Academy defines the noun in architecture as a wall opening without support.[12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Lacking reality, substance or being; illusory.[2][1]
  2. hollow, empty and lacking solidity.[2]
  3. Of a nut or similar fruit: with the kernel dried up or rotten.[2]
  4. futile, useless, without effect: Fue un intento vano.[2][1]
  5. vain, arrogant, conceited.[2][1]
  6. Short-lived, unstable.[2]
  7. Groundless, without reason or proof.[2]
  8. (Dominican Republic) Weak, faint.[13][14]

Noun

  1. (construction) A span: the clear distance between two supports, and in a bridge the space between two piers or abutments; also an opening in a wall for a door or window.[2][1][17]

Word family

  • vanidad
  • vanistorio
  • devanear
  • desvanecer
  • envanecer
  • vanagloria
  • evanescente
  • vasto
  • Latin vānus
  • Portuguese vão
  • French vain

Usage notes

En vano means “in vain, to no purpose” and also “without need or justice”.[2] The DLE has a separate vano² of Asturias and León, a hide stretched on a wooden hoop for sifting grain, from Latin vannus “winnowing basket”;[18] García de Diego records Old Spanish bano or vano “sieve”.[2][18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. vano
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 738
  4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vano
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 7034
  7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ 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. vano
  9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. vano
  10. ^ 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. vano
  11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 419
  12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. vano
  13. ^ 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. vano
  14. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. vano
  15. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. vano
  16. ^ 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. vano
  17. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
  18. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 7033

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Vano.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/vano. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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