Spanish words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Old Spanish fermoso, inherited from Latin fōrmōsus (“finely formed, beautiful”). Classical Latin had both pulcher and this word; the first, more frequent and more abstract, left…

It is inherited from Latin peccātum (“error, fault; sin”); Old Spanish pecado, often written peccado in the early texts, already has the modern form. The Latin noun is the neuter of the past…

It is inherited from Old Spanish bien, inherited from Latin bene (“well”), the adverb of bonus (“good”). The Latin adverb continues an older ablative *duenēd, from duenos, and goes back to…

It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *platta (“metal plate”), the feminine of *plattus (“flat”), which was used as a noun in Late Latin from the 10th century for a sheet, usually of metal, and…

It is inherited from Old Spanish oreja, inherited from Latin auricula (“ear”). The Latin word is the diminutive of auris (“ear”), and the poets of the Silver Age already used the diminutive in place…

It is inherited from Latin aperīre (“to open”). The same Latin verb is Portuguese abrir, Catalan obrir, Occitan obrir, French ouvrir and Italian aprire. The REW explains the forms with ⟨o⟩, still…

It is inherited from Old Spanish júdez, inherited from Latin iudex (“judge”). Corominas calls it a semi-learned descendant: the accusative iudicem passed through júez, still of two syllables, to the…

1. The word for “to rest, to lodge” is inherited from Late Latin pausare (“to cease, halt, rest”), from pausa (“halt, pause”), a loan from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “to stop, make cease”) or from…

It is borrowed from Latin iūstitia (“justice”), a learned word. Although learned, it has been in general use at every period. García de Diego also calls it a learned word. The Latin noun is formed…

It is inherited from Latin septem (“seven”). The stressed short /e/ of the Latin word became the diphthong ⟨ie⟩, as in the other Ibero-Romance languages. Lanchetas compares the development of nepta…

It is inherited from Latin accūsō (“to call to account, accuse”); the Old Spanish form was already acusar. The verb was formed from Latin ad- + causa (“cause; lawsuit”): it belonged first to the…

It is inherited from Latin illāc (“by that way, there”). Wiktionary and Menéndez Pidal derive it from ad (“to”) together with the same adverb. Corominas notes that these Latin adverbs were stressed…

1. The word for “high, tall” is inherited from Latin altus (“high; deep”). Corominas explains its sound as the influence of the more learned layers of speech: a fully popular word would have become…

It is inherited from Latin amō (“to love”); Old Spanish amar has the modern form from the first texts. The same verb is Portuguese amar, Galician amar, Catalan amar, Italian amare and French aimer…

It is inherited from Old Spanish amigo, inherited from Latin amīcus (“friend”), which is formed from amō (“to love”). The same Latin word is Portuguese amigo, Galician amigo, Asturian amigu, Catalan…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *arripāre (“to reach the shore”), formed from ad- (“to”) and rīpa (“bank, shore”). Medieval Latin texts have adripare (“to land”). In Spanish terms it is a- with…

It is inherited from Latin adiūtō (“to help”), the frequentative of adiuvō, itself formed from iuvō (“to help”); Old Spanish ayudar has the same form from the Cid on. The same Latin verb is…

It is inherited from Latin battuere (“to beat, pound”), in its popular form battere. Old Spanish had both the etymological infinitive bater and the form batir, which Berceo already uses several…

It is inherited from Old Spanish camara, inherited from Vulgar Latin camara (“vault”), a variant of Latin camera, from Ancient Greek καμάρα (kamára, “vault, vaulted room”). The DLE gives a Medieval…

It is inherited from Latin cārus (“dear; costly”). The Latin word already had both senses, “loved” and “precious, expensive”, which Spanish kept. The same word is Portuguese caro, Galician caro…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *captiāre; the Old Spanish form was caçar. The Vulgar Latin verb is derived from captus, the past participle of capiō (“to take, seize”); the DLE connects it with…

It is inherited from Old Spanish color, inherited from Latin color (“colour”). The same Latin word is Portuguese cor (older coor), Galician cor, Asturian color, Catalan color, Occitan color, French…

It is inherited from Old Spanish comer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *comēre, a remodelled form of Latin comedō (“to eat up, consume”). Corominas finds it unlikely that the classical infinitive gave…

It is inherited from Old Spanish cometer, inherited from Latin committere (“to bring together; to entrust; to set fighting, begin a fight”). That verb is formed from Latin con- + mittō (“to send…

It is inherited from Old Spanish cofonder, inherited from Latin cōnfundō (“to pour together, mix; to confuse”). Corominas treats the Cid's form, confonder in Berceo and the modern form, first found…

It is inherited from Old Spanish costar, inherited from Latin constō (“to stand firm; to consist of; to cost”). A Latin document of 1099 already has the spelling ⟨custare⟩. The Latin verb meant “to…

It is inherited from Old Spanish cresçer, inherited from Latin crēscō (“to come into being; to grow”). The same Latin verb is Portuguese crescer, Galician crecer, Asturian crecer, Catalan créixer…

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Late Latin criminālis (“of crime”). The CDH and the Tentative Dictionary have it first in the Cantar de mio Cid. Corominas lists Berceo, and the BDELC dates…

It is inherited from Latin chorda (“string of a musical instrument; rope, cord”), which is from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “gut, tripe; string made of gut”). The word means “rope, cord” in all the…

It is inherited from Latin compleō (“to fill, complete”); the Old Spanish forms were cumplir and complir. Wiktionary sets up a Vulgar Latin *complīre, with a change of conjugation to the ⟨-ir⟩…

It is inherited from Old Spanish dar, inherited from Latin dare (“to give”). Corominas doubts that the modern first person ⟨doy⟩ grew out of the old diphthong of dou. He suggests rather that the…

It is inherited from Latin dēbeō (“to owe, be under an obligation”) (infinitive ⟨dēbēre⟩); it is spelt Old Spanish dever in the oldest texts. The noun meaning “duty” is the infinitive used as a…

It is inherited from Late Latin discooperīre (“to uncover”), found in Saint Jerome. The Latin verb is made of dis- and cooperiō (“to cover completely”), the source of cubrir, which is derived from…

It is a compound from Old Spanish des (“from, since”) + de (“of, from”): the older preposition, which meant the same, was strengthened with a second one. Bénaben, following Alvar and Pottier…

It is inherited from Old Spanish diestro, inherited from Latin dexter (“right, on the right-hand side; skilful”). The feminine continues dextra (“right hand”). Corominas cites the Latin word both in…

1. The word for the gift is inherited from Latin dōnum (“gift, present”), as the DLE, the BDELC, García de Diego and Wiktionary give it. Corominas, in the DCECH, sees the word rather as a noun from…

It is a compound from Old Spanish de + onde (“from where”): the old adverb meaning “from where” was reinforced with the preposition. The adverb continues Latin unde (“from where, whence”). Bénaben…

It is inherited from Latin dormiō (“to sleep”); Old Spanish dormir has the same form. The same Latin verb is Portuguese dormir, Catalan dormir, Occitan dormir, French dormir and Italian dormire. A…

It is formed from Spanish ensayo (“trial, test”) + -ar. The verb is recorded earlier than the noun (in the Cid, against Berceo for the noun), and it is common to the Romance languages: Italian…

It is inherited from Old Spanish entrar, inherited from Latin intrāre (“to enter”). The Glosas Silenses still have the Latin-looking spelling ⟨intrato⟩. The Latin verb is formed from intrā…

It is inherited from Old Spanish esfuerço, a deverbal noun from Old Spanish esforçar (“to strengthen, encourage”), the verb that is now esforzar. Corominas lists both the verb and the noun from the…

It is probably borrowed from Gothic *𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌺𐌺𐌰 (*stakka, “stake”), a Gothic word that is not recorded in Ulfilas's texts. The BDELC and Wiktionary give it with a single ⟨k⟩, *𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌺𐌰 (*staka). Corominas…

It is inherited from Latin stāre (“to stand; to stand firm, motionless”), Old Spanish estar. The preterite estuve is of uncertain origin, most likely modelled on hube of haber, as in andar and…

It is inherited from Old Spanish yente, inherited from Latin gēns (“clan, race; the people of a country”), the modern form being a relatinisation of the Old Spanish word. The inherited form prevails…

It is borrowed from Proto-Germanic *wardōn (“to watch, guard”), a verb that Vulgar Latin had already taken from common West Germanic, and it is shared by all the western Romance languages…

It is inherited from Old Spanish ombro, inherited from Latin umerus (“shoulder”). The Latin spelling humerus is late and incorrect. Gómez de Silva puts its ⟨h⟩ down to hypercorrection. The learned…

It is inherited from Latin hōra (“hour”), which was borrowed from Greek ὥρα (hṓra, “period of time, division of the day, hour”). The same Latin word is Portuguese hora, Catalan hora, French heure…

It is borrowed from Latin intentiō (“a stretching; attention; purpose”), a learned word. Corominas counts it among the learned words of the family of tender. The same Latin word gave Portuguese…

It is inherited from Old Spanish lengua, inherited from Latin lingua (“tongue; speech, language”). The word is common to all periods of Spanish and to all the Romance languages. Latin had a short…

It is inherited from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet”), recorded from the beginnings of the language. The same word is Portuguese letra, Asturian lletra, Catalan lletra, Occitan letra, French…

It is inherited from Old Spanish mayo, inherited from Latin Maius (“May”). Latin used the word short for Maius mensis (“the month of Maia”). The same word is Portuguese maio, Catalan maig, Occitan…

It is inherited from Latin mercātus (“trade, traffic; market”). The Latin noun is derived from mercor (“to buy, trade”), itself from merx (“goods, merchandise”). The BDELC places it in one family…

It is inherited from Old Spanish mesclar, inherited from Vulgar Latin *misculare. The Vulgar Latin verb is derived from misceō (“to mix”) and lives on in all the western Romance languages. Corominas…

It is inherited from Old Spanish miraglo, inherited from Latin mīrāculum (“wonder, marvel”), a semi-learned word. The regular Spanish outcome of the Latin cluster /kl/ is a jota, as in ojo from…

It is inherited from Old Spanish mirar, inherited from Latin mīror (“to wonder at, admire”). The Portuguese and Spanish verbs continue the active form mirāre, which replaced the deponent. The same…

It is inherited from Old Spanish mesmo, inherited from Vulgar Latin *metipsimus. The Vulgar Latin form, also given as *medipsimus, joins the emphatic particle -met, which Latin added to personal…

It is inherited from Old Spanish molino, inherited from Late Latin molīnum (“mill”). The Late Latin noun is the neuter of the adjective molīnus (“of a mill”) used as a noun, or a shortening of saxum…

It is inherited from Old Spanish nin, inherited from Latin nec (“and not, nor”). Old Spanish mostly wrote ⟨nin⟩, beside ⟨ni⟩ and the rarer nen. Old Leonese, Asturian and Galician also had ne. In the…

It is inherited from Old Spanish noche, inherited from Latin nox (“night”), from its accusative noctem. The same Latin word is Portuguese noite, Galician noite, Asturian nueche, Aragonese nueit…

It is borrowed from Latin notō (“to mark; to write down”), a word taken from Latin. The Latin verb meant to put a mark on something, to write or take down in shorthand, and of the censors, to brand…