viña

Forms

viña f (plural viñas)^[1] Old Spanish writes vinna and uinna, beside the Latin spelling uinea in early charters.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish vinna, inherited from Latin vīnea (“vines in a vineyard; vineyard”), the feminine of vīneus (“of wine”) used as a noun, from vīnum (“wine”).^[1][4][5][6] Corominas notes that the word has been in general use in every period and is common to all the Romance languages.^[7]

The same word is Portuguese vinha, Galician viña, Asturian viña, Catalan vinya, Occitan vinha, French vigne, Italian vigna, Sardinian bingia and Romanian vie; in many of them it also means the vine itself.^[8][9][1] In Latin it also named a movable shed used in sieges.^[5][10]

The Latin word for wine and the words for wine in other Indo-European languages go back to a noun formed on the root Proto-Indo-European *weh₁y- (“to weave, wrap”): the vine was “the twining one”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas records the word in a charter of 980 from Oelschläger's list and in Berceo.^[7][12] The earliest hits of the CDH are the Latin form uinea in the Fuero de Madrid and in a Latin fuero fragment of 1182; the first in a Spanish text is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), where Moses promises the king of Edom non pasaria por campo ni por vinna “he would not pass through field or vineyard”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose uses uinna for land planted with vines and also for the vine itself, a sense Moliner still records.^[13][14] From the parable of the Gospel the Diccionario de Autoridades records the metaphor of the vineyard for the Catholic Church, and Terreros for the salvation of souls;^[15][16][17] Don Quixote speaks of a tireless worker en la viña del Señor.^[15][16][17] The DLE defines la viña del Señor as the faithful guided by a minister, and the saying de todo hay en la viña del Señor is used of a mixed lot.^[6][14]

Proverbs about the vineyard are old: the Refranes que dizen las viejas have miedo guarda viña, que no viñadero “fear guards the vineyard, not the watchman”, and Sancho's excuse de mis viñas vengo, no sé nada “I come from my vineyards, I know nothing” is quoted in the Quijote.^[7][17] In germanía the plural meant running away.^[18] In Mexico viña was a rubbish dump.^[19]

Timeline

• 980 – first record, in a charter.^[7][12]
• 1182 – the Latin form vinea in a fuero fragment.^[3]
• c. 1200 – vinna in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy).^[3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has uinna “vineyard”.^[13]
• 1280 – the General Estoria uses uinnas for vines.^[13]
• 1335 – first record of the derivative viñadero “vineyard watchman”.^[12]
• 1495 – first record of viñedo.^[12]
• 1513 – Nebrija defines it as a place of vines, Latin vinea.^[20]
• 1534 – first record from the Americas, in Puebla.^[21]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the metaphor for the Church.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy first gives the etymology, from Latin vinea.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vineyard: land planted with many vines: Mi abuelo cuidaba una viña junto al río.^[6][1]
2. The common vine.^[14]
3. (Mexico, obsolete) A rubbish dump.^[19]

Word family

• viñedo
• viñador
• viñadero
• viñuela

Related words

• vino
• vid
• viñeta
• Latin vīnea

Usage notes

Como hay viñas is a colloquial way of asserting that something is true without swearing to it.^[6][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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. viña
7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 822
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7188
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. vino
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. viña
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 491
16. ^ a b c 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, 802
17. ^ a b c Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 1159
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 893
19. ^ 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. viña
20. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 431
21. ^ 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. viña
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1022