viejo

Forms

viejo (feminine vieja, masculine plural viejos, feminine plural viejas, superlative viejísimo, diminutive viejito)^[1] Old Spanish texts spell the word viejo, vieio, uieio and uieya.^[2][3] The neighbouring forms are Leonese vieyo and Aragonese viello.^[1][4] Asturian has vieyu.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish viejo, inherited from Vulgar Latin veclus, the reduced form of Latin vetulus (“somewhat old, elderly”), which was a diminutive of vetus (“old”).^[5][6][7][1] Vulgar Latin generalised the diminutive and pronounced it with the cluster /kl/, and it replaced the simple adjective in everyday speech.^[5][8] Nascentes adds that it also pushed out senex (“old man”).^[9] Bénaben notes that the Latin word for “old” described what age had worn, while the word for “old man” only placed a person in an age group.^[8]

The same word is Portuguese velho, Galician vello, Asturian vieyu, Aragonese viello, Catalan vell, Occitan vièlh, French vieux, Italian vecchio and Romanian vechi.^[10][11][1] The Latin adjective comes from Proto-Italic *wetos (“year”) and Proto-Indo-European *wétos (“year”): “old” first meant “of many years”.^[12][1] Its relatives include Ancient Greek ἔτος (étos, “year”) and Old Church Slavonic ветъхъ (vetŭxŭ, “old”).^[12][1]

Corominas discusses why the stressed /ɛ/ of the Vulgar Latin form became /je/: before a palatal Castilian normally keeps the vowel (as in ojo), so the Spanish form looks irregular.^[5] Menéndez Pidal wondered whether it was a Leonese or Aragonese form, which Corominas rejects firmly for so basic a word.^[5] Others blamed the archaic synonym viedro, recorded in the 13th and early 14th centuries, which Corominas finds unlikely.^[5] His own explanation is chronological: Latin /ɛ/ diphthongised before the group /kl/ had become palatal, which is why the Catalan word has the same problem.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to a charter of 1068 and other documents of the 12th century, and calls the word frequent from Berceo on.^[5][6] In Alfonso X's Lapidario (1250–1279) a stone keeps its bearer free of the illnesses and weakness that befall the old (los otros uieios); the same prose already uses the word for things of the past, as in el uieio testamento “the Old Testament”, and for worn clothes (pannos uieios).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija gave Latin senex and vetulus for “a man of great age”, and Covarrubias in 1611 still knew the word mainly for people, with the proverb A perro viejo nunca cuz cuz: those with experience are hard to deceive.^[13][14] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the senses “ancient, of past times”, “opposed to new” (a coat that is old) and, in the plural, the hair on the temples, a colloquial use the Academy later marked as obsolete.^[15][16] The 1884 edition added “worn, spoiled by use” as a sense of its own.^[17]

As a noun the word names one's father or mother in colloquial Spanish, and in much of Latin America it is an affectionate address between spouses and friends.^[7][18][19] In Mexico, Central America and the Andes viejo, vieja can mean simply a man or a woman, even a young one; in Bolivia and the Río de la Plata a student's viejo is a teacher.^[19] In the Canaries más viejo means only “older”, so a child of five is más viejo than one of four, and vieja is the name of a prized parrotfish.^[5][20] In Álava and Navarre la vieja is Lent.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 1068 – first record, in a charter.^[5][6]
• 13th century – frequent in Berceo; the rare synonym viedro is still in use.^[5]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses uieios for old people.^[3]
• c. 1280 – first record of vejezuelo;^[13] vejez follows in the 14th century and envejecer in 1438.^[6]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin senex and vetulus as equivalents.^[13]
• 1535 – first record from the Americas, at Santa Marta: enfermedad vieja de bubas.^[21]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives the word from Latin vetulus and records the proverb A perro viejo nunca cuz cuz.^[14]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it, and vejestorio and vejancón are first recorded.^[15][6]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin vetus.^[17][22] Alemany in 1917 gives vetulus.^[17][22]
• 2001 – the Academy gives the Vulgar Latin form vĕclus as the source.^[23]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a living being: old, of advanced age: Mi abuelo ya es muy viejo.^[7][1]
2. That has existed for a long time or kept its state long: Somos viejos conocidos.^[7][18]
3. That existed or happened in the past; former.^[7][1]
4. After a person's name, distinguishing him from a younger namesake: “the elder”.^[7]
5. worn, spoiled by use; stale.^[7][1]
6. Used, second-hand;^[22] de viejo describes shops and craftsmen that sell or mend used goods.^[22][7]

Noun

1. An old man or woman.^[7][1]
2. (colloquial) One's father or mother;^[1][18] los viejos “one's parents”.^[7][1][18]
3. (colloquial, chiefly Latin America) An affectionate form of address for a spouse or a close friend.^[7][19]
4. (Mexico, Central America, Andes) A man or woman in general, even a young one;^[19][1] (Bolivia, Mexico) vieja: a woman.^[7][19][1]
5. (feminine, Canary Islands) vieja: a parrotfish much valued in Canarian cooking.^[7][20]
6. (feminine; Álava, colloquial) la vieja: Lent.^[7][5]

Word family

• vejezuelo
• vejancón
• vejestorio
• vejete
• vejez
• avejentar
• envejecer
• viejecito

Related words

• vejarrón
• vejecer
• vejedad
• vejera
• veterano
• viejarrón
• viejera
• viejujo
• vetusto
• veterinario
• Latin vetus
• Portuguese velho

Usage notes

Viejo and anciano overlap.^[18] Moliner notes that before the noun viejo usually means “long-standing” (un viejo compañero “an old colleague”), after it “aged” (un compañero viejo).^[18] The set phrase viejo verde is an old man who behaves like a young one in love affairs.^[16][22]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. viejo
3. ^ 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), p. s.v. viejo
4. ^ a b Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. vieyu
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 805
6. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. viejo
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. viejo
8. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. viejo
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. velho
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 9291
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 7145
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 430
14. ^ 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. 1386
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 482
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 793
17. ^ 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. 1088
18. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. viejo
19. ^ a b c d e Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. viejo
20. ^ a b Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. viejo
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. vieho
22. ^ a b c d e Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1660
23. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. viejo