Etymologically
Log in

venal

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word venal

venal1 of the veins

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1739 Diccionario de Autoridades, quoting Luis de Granada
Ultimate origin
Latin vēna
Etymology tree of venal1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vēna
French veine
Romanian venă
Italian vena
Romanian vână
Spanish vena
Spanish venal
From the same root · venal1
English vein ← vēna
Latin vēnōsus ← vēna
Romanian vânos ← vână

Pronunciation

  • /beˈnal/, [beˈnal][1]

Forms

venal m or f (masculine and feminine plural venales)[1]

Etymology

The word for “of the veins” is formed from Spanish vena + -al.[1][2] vena continues vēna (“vein”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Autoridades records it in 1739 with a sentence of Fray Luis de Granada's Símbolo: de sangre venál se hace arterial “from venous blood it becomes arterial”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Terreros also gives the sense “belonging to the veins”.[4] The Academy's 1817 edition left it out, and the 1843 edition put it back as the first sense.[5][6] From 1884 the Academy gives it as a separate entry, without etymology.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1739 – Autoridades enters the sense “of the veins”, quoting Luis de Granada.[3]
  • 1843 – the Academy restores the sense, left out in 1817.[6][5]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives it a separate entry.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (anatomy) Of or relating to the veins (venas); venous.[8][1][9]

venal2 for sale; corruptible

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1376–1396 Fernández de Heredia, Libro de actoridades (Rams de flors)
Borrowed from
Latin venalis
Ultimate origin
Latin vēnālis
Etymology tree of venal2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vēnum
Latin vēnālis
English venal
Spanish venal
From the same root · venal2
Latin vendō ← vēnum

Pronunciation

  • /beˈnal/, [beˈnal][1]

Forms

venal m or f (masculine and feminine plural venales)[1]

Etymology

The word for “for sale, corruptible” is borrowed from Latin vēnālis (“for sale”), from vēnum (“sale”).[8][1][10] Corominas treats it under vender.[11]

Cognate borrowings are French vénal (first as venel, about 1180), Catalan venal and Portuguese venal.[12][13][14]

The Latin noun, found only in a few case forms, goes back to *wesno- and Proto-Indo-European *wes-no- (“price”), with cognates such as ὦνος (ônos, “price”).[15] vendō (“to sell”) belongs to the same family.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Juan Fernández de Heredia's Libro de actoridades (1376–1396): it would follow that el regno celestial fuesse venal “the kingdom of heaven were for sale”, to be bought with alms.[16][17]

Semantic evolution

The Breve diccionario dates the word 1444.[18] In 15th-century verse it is said of false prelates who make las cosas sagradas venales “sacred things for sale”.[16] Autoridades gives both senses: saleable or put up for sale, and of a person who lets himself be corrupted with gifts or money.[3] Terreros adds that one calls a judge venal when he can be bribed.[4] Moliner labels both senses learned.[9]

Timeline

  • 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia's Libro de actoridades has venal “for sale”.[16]
  • 1444 – the date the Breve diccionario gives.[18]
  • 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin uenalis as cosa que se vende.[19]
  • 1739 – Autoridades records “saleable” and “corruptible”.[3]
  • 1791 – first record in the Americas, valor venal in Lima.[20]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin venalis and venum.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Saleable (vendible); for sale.[8][1][9]
  2. Open to bribery; corrupt: Un tribunal venal no merece confianza.[8][1][9]

Word family

  • venalidad

Usage notes

Valor venal is the selling value of a thing; it is recorded in Lima in 1791.[1][20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 764
  3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 439
  4. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 768
  5. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 882
  6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 735
  7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1077
  8. ^ a b c d e 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. venal
  9. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. venal
  10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. venal
  11. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 768
  12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. vénal
  13. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. venal
  14. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3479
  15. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  16. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. venal
  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. venal
  18. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vender
  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. venal
  20. ^ 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. venal

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Venal.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/venal. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·