vecindad

Forms

vecindad f (plural vecindades)^[1] Old Spanish wrote vezindad and vezindat (also uezindat, bezindad); Corominas records a form with a different syncope, vinzedades.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish vezindad, inherited from Latin vīcīnitās (“nearness; neighbourhood”).^[4][1][3][5]

The Latin noun is formed from vīcīnus (“near, neighbouring”) with the suffix -tās.^[6][1] The adjective is in turn derived from vīcus (“quarter of a town; village”).^[3] Corominas explains ⟨vinzedades⟩ and ⟨vencidat⟩, the latter in the Calila, as coming from a form with a different syncope, *viznedad.^[3]

Related forms are Aragonese vezindat, Asturian vecindá and Italian vicinità.^[1][7] Old Portuguese had vezindade in the 13th century, which the Houaiss takes from Spanish.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it for the area around a place: en la su vezindad non se treven ganar tanto, of the Moors who do not dare to farm near the Cid's camp.^[9][3]

Semantic evolution

In the fueros of the 13th century vezindad was also a legal status, the rights and duties of a vecino, a householder of a town: the Fuero de Alcalá speaks of a man who keeps bezindad, and the Fuero Juzgo of one who settles outside his own land and acquires uezindat there.^[9][10] Berceo used it for the neighbours as a group: se maravillaba toda la vecindad.^[9] In the colonial Americas perder la vezindad meant losing one's status as a settler; in Mexico hacer or mantener vecindad meant keeping a house in the main town while holding an encomienda.^[11][12]

Autoridades gave the senses “the people of a town or quarter”, “residence status” and “nearness”.^[13] In 1817 the Academy added figurative nearness and likeness and the phrase hacer mala vecindad “to be a bad neighbour”; in 1899 it reordered the senses with “the quality of being a neighbour” first.^[14][15] In Mexico vecindad, short for patio or casa de vecindad, names a large old house divided into many dwellings.^[12][16] In León it was a fee paid by a newcomer to become a vecino, or by a young man who married in the village.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses vezindad for the area around a place.^[9][3]
• 1218–1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has uezindat, the first record in a text without a later copy.^[9]
• c. 1236 – Berceo uses it for the neighbours as a group.^[9]
• 1254 – the Fuero Juzgo uses it for the status of a vecino.^[10]
• 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin vicinia and vicinitas for vezindad.^[18]
• 1539 – the first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[11]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it as English neighbourhood.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as a quarter of neighbours.^[20]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives three senses.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy records hacer mala vecindad.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy reorders the senses, with “the quality of being a neighbour” first.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or status of being a vecino of a place, residence.^[4][21]
2. The people who live in the different dwellings of one building, or in houses next to one another.^[4]
3. The people who live in a town or in part of it; vecindario.^[4]
4. The surroundings of a place, its vicinity: Hay varias farmacias en la vecindad.^[4][1]
5. (Mexico) A large old house divided into many dwellings around a courtyard, a tenement.^[16][12]

Related words

• vecino
• vecindario
• avecindar
• Latin vīcīnitās

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include casa de vecindad “tenement house” and hacer mala vecindad “to be a nuisance to one's neighbours”;^[4][1] media vecindad was a right a stranger bought, for half the taxes, to graze his flocks on a town's pastures.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. vecindad
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 751
4. ^ 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. vecindad
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vecino
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. vecindá
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vizindade
9. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. vecindad
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. vecindad
11. ^ 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. vecindad
12. ^ a b c Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 1108
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 428
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 879
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1006
16. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
17. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. vecindad
18. ^ 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. vecindad
19. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 228
20. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1373
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vecindad