vez

Forms

vez f (plural veces)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vicis (“turn, alternation; place, office”), used in the accusative ⟨vicem⟩ and the ablative ⟨vice⟩.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word has no attested nominative singular; the Academy's dictionary gives it as ⟨vix, vicis⟩.^[6][7] Old Spanish vez is found from the earliest glosses.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese vez, Galician vez, French fois and Old Occitan vetz;^[8][1] Italian keeps it only in some phrases, as Italian vece, and Old Catalan veu was soon lost through its clash with the word for “voice”.^[2][8][1]

The Latin word goes back to *wik- (“turn”) and *uik- (“a turn”); de Vaan suggests a root meaning “to tie, turn”.^[6] Wiktionary relates it to *weyk- (“to bend”) and to the English word week and German Wechsel (“change”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to about 950, in the Glosas Silenses and Emilianenses.^[3][2] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) uses it in counting: „cincuaenta vezes mill de armas” “fifty times a thousand armed men”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish vez also meant a turn to take water for irrigation, recorded in three Old Castilian charters of the late 12th century; the Fuero de Zorita rules on „aquel que en uez agena, agua tomare” “one who takes water in another's turn”.^[2][9] From this came una vez de agua “a little water”, which Quevedo condemned as vulgar.^[2] Covarrubias (1611) defined vez as a time or place set for doing something, with por esta vez, en vez de and una vez de vino “a draught of wine”.^[5] The Diccionario de Autoridades records that last sense, the amount drunk at one go, and dates en vez de from 1625.^[11][2]

For centuries vez competed with its derivative vegada, from Vulgar Latin *vicata, usual from Berceo on;^[12] Juan de Valdés would not use vegada in 1535, and it survives only in Zamora and Asturias.^[2] Tal vez, first “at one time or another, sometimes”, came to mean “perhaps”.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 added a herd of pigs belonging to the people of a village.^[13] In Spain vez is also one's place in a queue.^[7][1]

Timeline

• c. 950 – first record, in the Glosas Silenses and Emilianenses.^[3][2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid: „cincuaenta vezes mill”.^[9]
• Late 12th century – three Old Castilian charters use it for a turn of irrigation.^[2]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita: „en uez agena”.^[9]
• 1513 – Nebrija's Vocabulario gives Latin vicem, vice and vicissitudo.^[14]
• 1535 – Juan de Valdés rejects the old synonym vegada.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records en vez de and una vez de vino.^[5]
• 1625 – first quotation for en vez de in the Diccionario de Autoridades.^[2]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds the sense “village herd of pigs”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. Alternation of things in turn or in succession.^[7]
2. A particular time or occasion when something is done.^[7]
3. One's turn to do something: Ahora te toca la vez a ti.^[7][1]
4. Each occurrence of an event or action; time, instance: Lo he leído tres veces.^[7][1]
5. (Spain) One's place in a queue: ¿Quién tiene la vez?^[7][1]
6. A herd of livestock belonging to the people of a village.^[7][13]
7. (obsolete) The amount given, taken or drunk at one go.^[7][11]
8. (in the plural) The office or authority exercised in someone else's place, in hacer las veces de “to act as, stand in for”.^[7][1]

Word family

• vecero
• vegada

Related words

• vicario
• vicisitud
• viceversa
• Latin vicis
• Portuguese vez

Usage notes

The plural is veces.^[1] Common phrases include a veces “sometimes”, tal vez “perhaps”, otra vez “again”, de vez en cuando “now and then” and en vez de “instead of”.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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, 196
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vez
4. ^ 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. vez
5. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1382
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. vez
8. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7153
9. ^ 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. vez
10. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. vez
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 471
12. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. vez
13. ^ 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. 1085
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 430