ventaja

Forms

ventaja f (plural ventajas)^[1] Old Spanish had the feminine avantaja and aventaja and the masculine avantage and aventage.^[2] Aragonese texts also have the hyper-dialectal avantalla and ibantalla.^[2] The DEMel records the medieval spellings vantaja, auantaia, vantalla and uantaga beside ventaja.^[3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Old Spanish avantaja, borrowed from Old French avantage (“advantage”), a derivative of avant (“forward, before”).^[2][4][5] Corominas dates the present form to 1444, while the older forms with ⟨a-⟩ go back to about 1250.^[4] The DLE derives the modern word from aventaja, and Wiktionary explains the loss of the first syllable as a rebracketing of that form.^[6][1]

The French adverb goes back to Late Latin abante (“in front, before”), a compound of the prepositions ab and ante.^[4][5] The same Latin word gave Spanish avante, a nautical word taken from avant in 1406, and avanzar, which came through avançar.^[4][7]

The French noun was also borrowed as Portuguese vantagem, earlier avãtajem, and Italian vantaggio.^[8][9] The Catalan word is avantatge.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Libro de los doce sabios (c. 1237, known from a copy of about 1400) already advises a commander to seek vantaja over his enemies, that is, a better position.^[11][3] In the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250) Juno is given avantaja, precedence over the other goddesses, because she was queen.^[11][2] Alfonso X's prose uses avantaja for superiority over others and for a favourable condition, and once for odds given to an opponent: “la meytad delas armas uos do de auentaia”, “I give you half the arms as a head start”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The sense “superiority, upper hand” has been central from the 13th century on.^[12][6] In the 16th and 17th centuries the word also named extra pay granted to a soldier above his ordinary wages, the sense Covarrubias gives in 1611 and Autoridades still records.^[13][14] Autoridades also gives the gaming sense, odds conceded to a weaker player, with a passage of the Quijote.^[14] Terreros adds “profit, benefit” and, in war, a partial victory, which Salvá's dictionary records as a military sense.^[15][16]

The DLE now also has the football sense, the advantage rule played after a foul by the other team.^[6] In Cuba and Argentina the word can mean the profit from a sale, and in Puerto Rico it names a sweet of wheat flour and honey or sugar.^[17][18]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – avantaja in the Libro de Alexandre; the Aragonese Vidal Mayor has auantailla.^[11][4]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España and General estoria use auantaia.^[11][12]
• 1444 – the first record of the form ventaja.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin primae and victoria as its equivalents.^[19][2]
• 1495 – Nebrija records the verb aventajar.^[4]
• 1520 – the first record from the Americas, in a letter from Cuba.^[20]
• 1607 – the first record of desventaja.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as the extra pay given to a soldier.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades suggests a French origin, avantage with its first letter dropped.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives an etymology, from French avantage; the 1899 edition changes it to “de aventaja”.^[21][22]

Meanings

Noun

1. advantage, superiority of a person or thing over another: Nuestro equipo tiene ventaja porque juega en casa.^[6][1]
2. A favourable quality or condition; a benefit: Vivir junto al mar tiene muchas ventajas.^[6][1]
3. Extra pay above the ordinary wage that others receive.^[6]
4. A head start or odds that a player gives another to make up for being more skilful.^[6][1]
5. (sports) The advantage given to a team after a foul by its opponent.^[6]
6. (Cuba, Argentina) The profit from a sale or a business.^[17]

Word family

• aventajar
• ventajismo
• ventajista
• ventajoso
• desventaja

Related words

• desventajar
• avanzar
• avante
• French avantage
• Italian vantaggio

Usage notes

The phrase jugador de ventaja names a card cheat.^[6] In tennis ventaja is the point that breaks a tie at forty, the English advantage.^[23][24]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 416
3. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ventaja
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. avanzar
5. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. ventaja
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ventaja
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 4
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 3460
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. vantaggio
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. avantatge
11. ^ 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. ventaja
12. ^ a b c 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)
13. ^ 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. 1378
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 450
15. ^ 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, 773
16. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1103
17. ^ 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. ventaja
18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 811
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 429
20. ^ 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. ventaja
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1079
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1010
23. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ventaja
24. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ventaja