vendedor

Forms

vendedor m (plural vendedores, feminine vendedora, feminine plural vendedoras)^[1] Old Spanish texts write uendedor and uendedora, and once the short form uendor.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin venditor (“seller”), formed on vendō (“to sell”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[3][1][4] By surface analysis it is from Spanish vender + -dor.^[1]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese vendedor, Catalan venedor, Occitan vendedor, French vendeur, Italian venditore and Romanian vânzător.^[5][6]

The Latin verb was a late contraction of vēnum (“sale”) and dō (“to give”), which explains why its long vowel was kept before a nasal and a stop.^[7][1] The noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to sell, buy”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word from a charter of 1187 in Oelschläger's list.^[7][8] DEMel cites a document of 1206 from Madrid, and the Judizios de las estrellas (1254) say that the seller has a great wish to sell: el uendedor a grant sabor de uender.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense has not changed since then: the person who sells.^[3][10] The Diccionario de Autoridades quotes the Partidas on a traitor vendedór de castillo de su señor “seller of his lord's castle”.^[10] Terreros recorded vendedor de drogas for a quack who gathered crowds to sell remedies, and vendedor por menudo for a retailer.^[11] The Academy treated it as a noun in 1817 and as an adjective “that sells”, also used as a noun, from 1884.^[12][13]

The first record from the Americas is from Mexico City in 1571.^[14] Mexico has vendedor de chueco “seller of stolen goods”, and Chile vendedor de pomada or de pomadas for someone who lures others into an attractive but deceptive deal.^[15]

Timeline

• 1187 – first record, in a charter.^[7][8]
• 1206 – a document from Madrid.^[2]
• 1254 – the Judizios de las estrellas use uendedor.^[9]
• 1571 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[14]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records vendedor de drogas and vendedor por menudo.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as an adjective, also used as a noun.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That sells: el país vendedor de petróleo.^[3][16]

Noun

1. A seller; a salesman or saleswoman, especially one who sells for a living: Trabaja de vendedor en una tienda de muebles.^[3][1][17]

Related words

• vender
• venta
• Latin venditor
• Portuguese vendedor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. vendedor
3. ^ a b c d 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. vendedor
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. venditor
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. venditor
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. venditor
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 768
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vender
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. vendedor
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 441
11. ^ 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, 769
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 882
13. ^ 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. 1077
14. ^ 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. vendedor
15. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. vendedor
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vendedor
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. vendedor