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vecino

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word vecino

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
900s Glosas Silenses, spelt bicino More words from the 9th century
Inherited from
Latin vecinus via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ-

Pronunciation

  • /beˈθino/, [beˈθi.no], /beˈsino/[1]

Forms

vecino (feminine vecina, masculine plural vecinos, feminine plural vecinas)[1] The Glosas Silenses spell it bicino, a charter of 1090 becino;[2] vezino, found from Berceo on, is the usual medieval spelling.[2] Berceo has the apocopated vezín in el vezín malo “the devil”;[2] Asturian vecín is the regular dialect form.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish vezino, inherited from Late Latin vēcīnus, from Latin vīcīnus (“neighbouring; neighbour”).[2][3][4][1] The Latin adjective is formed from vīcus (“quarter of a town; village”) with -īnus.[2][4][1] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *weik-o- (“settlement”) and Proto-Indo-European *ueiḱ- “settlement”, with cognates in Sanskrit words for “inhabitant” and “settlement”; villa belongs to the same root.[5]

The change of the first /iː/ to /e/ before the stressed /iː/ is a dissimilation found in all the Romance languages, and may already be Vulgar Latin.[2][1] Its outcomes are Portuguese vizinho, Galician veciño, Asturian vecín, Aragonese vecín, Catalan veí, Occitan vesin, French voisin, Italian vicino and Romanian vecin.[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record, bicino in the Glosas Silenses, to the middle of the 10th century; the BDELC puts it at the end of that century.[2][3] From the start the word has its two main senses: each of the householders of a town, very frequent in the fueros and early charters, and someone who lives near another.[2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense of the householder who has a house in a town and shares its charges, even when he no longer lives there, and of one who has gained residence by living there for the time the law sets, was defined in the Diccionario de Autoridades and is still in the DLE.[8][4] The adjective “near” is in Alfonso X's prose: la luna es mas uezina ala tierra que todas las otras planetas “the moon is nearer to the earth than all the other planets”.[9] The figurative senses “near in any respect” and “similar” were in the Academy's 1884 edition, which derived the word from Latin vicinus and vicus.[10]

Covarrubias glossed it with the Latin definition of one who lives in the same quarter or near our house.[11] Wiktionary also gives the historical sense of a freeman of relatively high status attached to a place.[1]

Timeline

  • 900s – bicino in the Glosas Silenses.[2][3]
  • 1090 – becino in a charter in Oelschläger's list.[2]
  • c. 1140 – the derivative vecindad in the Cantar de mio Cid.[2][3]
  • 1220–1250 – Berceo writes vezino, the usual medieval spelling.[2]
  • c. 1254 – uezina “near” in Alfonso X's prose.[9]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias records vezino.[11]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the resident and the legal householder.[8]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the senses “near” and “similar”.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (also as a noun) Living with others in the same town, district or building, in a separate home; a neighbour or resident: Los vecinos del tercero son muy simpáticos.[4][1]
  2. (also as a noun) Having a house in a town and sharing its charges, even when not living there.[4]
  3. (also as a noun) Having gained the rights of residence in a town by living there for the time the law sets.[4]
  4. near, neighbouring, adjacent: un país vecino.[4][1]
  5. similar, coinciding.[4]

Noun

  1. (historical) A freeman of relatively high status attached to a place.[1]

Word family

  • vecinal
  • circunvecino
  • vecindario

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 751
  3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vecino
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. vecino
  5. ^ 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. vīcus
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. vicinus
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. vicinus
  8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 428
  9. ^ 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. vecino
  10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1073
  11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1373

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Vecino.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/vecino. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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