vivienda

Forms

vivienda f (plural viviendas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote biuienda or bivienda, as Nebrija still did.^[2][3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *vivenda (“things with which or in which one lives”), from vīvendus (“that is to be lived”), the gerundive of vīvō (“to live”).^[3][4][5][1] Portuguese vivenda “way of life, livelihood; dwelling” has the same origin.^[3][6] Medieval Latin vivenda meant food, sustenance, and the estates that fed a chapter of canons.^[7]

The same Vulgar Latin word, altered to *vivanda, gave French viande, first “food” and now “meat”.^[8][9] Spanish took from French the doublet vianda, already in the Cid.^[3][8][9]

The Latin verb goes back to *gʷīwe/o- and *gʷíh₃-ue/o- (“to live”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Castigos del rey don Sancho IV (1292–1293), known from a 15th-century copy, where biuienda is a way of life: counsel de mala biuienda “of evil living”.^[2] The first record in a contemporary copy, also in DEMel, is the Carta de población of Albarracín (c. 1300), where pan ni otra biuienda means food and provisions.^[2][11] Corominas cites the word only from Nebrija, who glosses it victus, vita.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval senses are livelihood and way of life: in the Escorial Bible (c. 1400) the speaker says that God sent him ahead por biuienda, “for the sake of life”.^[2] Cejador's medieval vocabulary glosses it “way of living”.^[12]

The sense “dwelling” appears in the Americas by 1550, su casa e vivienda in Panama.^[13] Autoridades (1739) defines the word as a house or room to live in, and the Academy in 1884 marked “way of life” as old.^[14][15] Today the DLE gives “dwelling” first, and “way of life” as obsolete.^[4][16]

Timeline

• 1292–1293 – the Castigos del rey don Sancho IV (in a 15th-century copy) has biuienda “way of life”.^[2]
• c. 1300 – the Carta de población of Albarracín uses it for provisions.^[2][11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives bivienda with Latin victus and vita.^[17][3]
• 1550 – “house and dwelling” in Panama, first record in the Americas.^[13]
• 1739 – Autoridades defines it as a house or rooms to live in.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy marks the sense “way of life” as old.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dwelling, home: an enclosed and roofed place built for people to live in; also housing in general: El ayuntamiento construirá doscientas viviendas.^[4][16][1]
2. (obsolete) A way of life, manner of living.^[4][1]

Word family

• infravivienda

Related words

• vivir
• vianda
• vivo
• Portuguese vivenda

Usage notes

Vivienda protegida is subsidised housing, and infravivienda substandard housing.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. vivienda
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 834
4. ^ 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. vivienda
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vivenda
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. vivienda
12. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. vivienda
15. ^ 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. 1096
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
17. ^ 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