Spanish words from Latin
1854 Spanish words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 12).
familia
It is borrowed from Latin familia (“household; the slaves and servants of a house”), a learned word. The Latin noun belongs with famulus (“servant, slave”); the Spanish dictionaries derive it from…
famoso
It is borrowed from Latin fāmōsus (“much talked of, famous”), formed from fāma (“talk, report, fame”) with the suffix -ōsus. Corominas lists it among the derivatives of fama that show clear signs of…
fantasma
It is borrowed from Latin phantasma (“apparition, ghost”), which is from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma, “apparition, image”). The Greek noun is formed from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible”)…
faro
It is borrowed from Latin pharus (“lighthouse”), from Ancient Greek φάρος (pháros), the common noun made from the name of the island of Pharos, off the harbour of Alexandria where the most famous…
fascinar
It is borrowed from Latin fascinō (“to bewitch”), a learned word. The Latin verb is a derivative of fascinum (“spell, bewitchment; phallic charm”). De Vaan compares Ancient Greek βάσκανος (báskanos…
favor
It is borrowed from Latin favor (“goodwill, favour; applause”), a learned word, derived from faveō (“to be favourably inclined, approve”). The origin of the Latin verb is uncertain: de Vaan reports…
fe
It is inherited from Latin fidēs (“faith, trust; credit; a promise, pledged word”). The Latin accusative fidem gave first fee and then fe, as pedem gave pie and videt gave ve. The older form is…
febrero
It is inherited from Late Latin Febrārius, in a semi-learned form. This is the spoken Latin form of Februārius, recorded in the Appendix Probi and in inscriptions. The learned influence kept the…
feliz
It is borrowed from Latin fēlīx (“fruitful; fortunate, happy”), a learned word. Berceo uses it three times, but Corominas knows few other medieval examples: it is missing from Nebrija and Alcalá…
feria
It is inherited from Late Latin fēria (“feast day; weekday”), a semi-learned descendant whose form reflects its use in the Church. Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing from Latin. The Late Latin…
fértil
It is borrowed from Latin fertilis (“fruitful, productive”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is formed from ferō (“to bear, carry”), in the sense “to bear fruit”, with the suffix -ilis. Its -t-…
festivo
It is borrowed from Latin fēstīvus (“festal; jolly, fine”), first recorded in 1490 in Palencia's vocabulary. The Latin adjective is formed from fēstus (“of a feast, festal”) with the suffix -īvus…
feto
It is borrowed from Latin fētus (“bringing forth, breeding; offspring”), recorded in Spanish from 1543. Corominas places the Latin noun in the same family as fēcundus (“fruitful”) and fēmina…
fiar
It is inherited from Old Spanish fiar, inherited from Vulgar Latin *fīdāre, a change of conjugation of Latin fīdere (“to trust”). All the Romance languages that keep the verb, all those of the West…
fibra
It is borrowed from Latin fibra (“filament of a plant; lobe of the liver”), a learned word beside the inherited hebra, which continues the same Latin noun. Corominas dates the learned form from…
fiel
It is inherited from Old Spanish fiel, inherited from Latin fidēlis (“faithful”). Corominas explains the kept ⟨f⟩ as in fe: the word was pronounced without a diphthong until late, so neither the…
fiesta
It is a semi-learned word, inherited from Late Latin festa, originally the plural of festum (“feast, festival”), the neuter of the adjective festus (“festive”), which is related to feria. Corominas…
figura
It is borrowed from Latin figūra (“shape, form; image; manner”), a learned word in Spanish as in all the Romance languages. The Latin noun is derived from fingō (“to knead, mould, give shape to”)…
figurativo
It is borrowed from Late Latin figūrātīvus (“figurative”), a learned word. Corominas lists it without a date among the words of the family of figurar, under the article on figura. The Latin…
fin
It is inherited from Old Spanish fin, inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary, limit; end”), by a semi-learned route. García de Diego regards the Castilian word as learned or as a form of the…
finalmente
It is formed from Spanish final + -mente, the adjective with the adverbial suffix. The adjective is from Late Latin fīnālis, from fīnis (“boundary, end”). Corominas dates the adjective itself only…
fingir
It is borrowed from Latin fingō (“to knead; to shape; to invent”), a learned word. The inherited outcome of the same Latin verb is heñir “to knead”. A Latin charter of León of 1020 already uses…
firma
It is a deverbal noun from Spanish firmar (“to sign”). Corominas lists it among the derivatives of firme, dating the verb to the 10th century and the noun to 1206. The verb is from Latin firmō (“to…
firmar
It continues inherited from Latin firmō (“to make firm, strengthen, confirm”), a derivative of firmus (“firm, stable”). Corominas lists it among the derivatives of firme and explains why its ⟨f-⟩…
firme
It is inherited from Old Spanish firme, inherited from Vulgar Latin firmis, a third-declension variant of classical Latin firmus (“firm, stable, strong”). Cornu, followed by the REW and García de…
flor
It is inherited from Old Spanish flor, inherited from Latin flōs (“flower”). The same Latin word is Portuguese flor, Catalan flor, Occitan flor, French fleur, Italian fiore and Romanian floare, and…
florecer
It is inherited from Old Spanish florescer, inherited from Latin flōrēscō (“to begin to flower”). The Latin verb is formed flōreō (“to bloom”) + the inchoative suffix -scō, and the simple verb is…
fluir
It is borrowed from Latin fluō (“to flow, run”). Corominas calls it an uncommon Latinism, strictly of the written language, whose derivatives are learned as well. Older sources give earlier records…
fondo
It is inherited from Old Spanish fondo, inherited from Latin fundus (“bottom; landed estate”). In the Middle Ages the noun was much less used than its derivative hondón; when it came back into…
forma
It is borrowed from Latin fōrma (“form, figure, image, configuration; beauty”). Corominas calls it a very old semi-learned word: it appears in the Glosas Silenses and in a document of 1206, though…
formar
It is borrowed from Latin fōrmō (“to shape, fashion”), derived from fōrma (“form, shape; beauty”). Corominas treats the noun forma as a very old semi-learned word, found already in the Glosas…
fortuna
It is borrowed from Latin fortūna (“fortune, luck, chance”), a derivative of fors (“chance, luck”). Corominas calls it a learned word little used in the Middle Ages: it is missing from the Cid…
forzar
It is inherited from Old Spanish forçar, inherited from Vulgar Latin *fortiāre (“to force”). Corominas calls it a derivative common to all the western Romance languages, formed on Late Latin fortia…
francés
The DLE takes it as borrowed from Occitan fransés, and García de Diego and Gómez de Silva also derive it from Provençal. Gómez de Silva allows Old French franceis or françois as an alternative…
frase
It is borrowed from Latin phrasis (“diction, style”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “expression, way of speaking”), a derivative of φράζω (phrázō, “to explain, make understood”). It first…
fregar
It is inherited from Old Spanish fregar, inherited from Latin fricō (“to rub, chafe”). The same Latin verb is Portuguese fregar, Catalan fregar, Occitan fregar, French frayer (“to clear a path; to…
freno
It is inherited from Latin frēnum (“bridle, bit”). It is frequent in charters of the earliest period and in texts of every date. The same Latin word is Portuguese freio, earlier Old…
frente
It continues inherited from Old Spanish fruente, inherited from Latin frōns (“forehead, brow; front”). The Old Spanish diphthong ue was reduced to e after the r, a regular change after a liquid that…
fresco
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *friscum, which Vulgar Latin took from Proto-West Germanic *frisk (“new, young, lively, nimble, bold”). Corominas calls it a Germanism common to all the western…
frío
It is inherited from Old Spanish frio, inherited from Latin frīgidus (“cold”). Old Spanish also had frido, the form of a Cardeña charter of 931 and of Berceo's rhymes, which survives in the ballad…
fruto
It is inherited from Old Spanish fruto, inherited from Latin frūctus (“enjoyment, usufruct; produce, fruit”), in a semi-learned form. Wiktionary treats it as a learned borrowing and sets it against…
fuego
It is inherited from Late Latin focus (“fire”), through Old Spanish fuego. In classical Latin the word was the hearth, the household fire or a brazier; from at least the 4th century it was used in…
fuente
It is inherited from Latin fons (“spring, source”), through Old Spanish fuant and fuent. The Latin noun was masculine, but from the 4th century it changed gender like other nouns of the third…
fuera
It continues inherited from Old Spanish fueras, inherited from Latin forās (“out of doors, outside”). The final ⟨-s⟩ was dropped on the model of the many adverbs that had forms with and without the…
fuerte
It is inherited from Latin fortis (“strong, robust”), through Old Spanish fuerte. The stressed short /o/ of Latin became the diphthong /we/, written ⟨ue⟩. The same Latin word is Portuguese forte…
fuerza
It is inherited from Late Latin fortia (“strength”). Old Spanish wrote fuerça. The Late Latin noun, found from the 2nd century in Commodian and Firmicus Maternus, replaced classical vīs in all the…
fuga
It is borrowed from Latin fuga (“flight, escape”), a learned word beside the inherited verb huir. Corominas lists it among the learned words in his article on that verb and dates it to the 16th…
fumar
Corominas takes it as probably borrowed from French fumer (“to smoke”), which had the sense of smoking tobacco from 1664. Wiktionary follows him. The French verb is from Latin fūmāre (“to give off…
función
It is borrowed from Latin fūnctiō (“performance, execution; payment of a tax”), a noun formed from fungor (“to perform, discharge”). De Vaan derives the verb from an Indo-European nasal present…
fundamento
It is borrowed from Latin fundāmentum (“foundation, basis”), recorded from the middle of the 13th century. The Latin noun is formed from the verb fundō (“to lay the foundations”) with the suffix…
funeral
It is borrowed from Late Latin fūnerālis (“of a funeral”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is built on the stem fūner- of fūnus (“funeral rites”) with the suffix -ālis. Bénaben notes that the…
furioso
It is borrowed from Latin furiōsus (“full of rage; mad”), a learned word. DEMel records it in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas (1256–1265); the DCECH and the BDELC date it from the Corbacho of 1438. Like…
futuro
It is borrowed from Latin futūrus (“that is to be, coming”), the future participle of sum (“to be”), a learned word. The Breve diccionario dates it 1438; the DCECH, which discusses it under ser…
gallina
It is inherited from Latin gallīna (“hen”), the feminine of gallus (“cock”), formed with the suffix -īna. The masculine gave gallo. The same Latin word is Portuguese galinha, Catalan gallina…
gallo
It is inherited from Latin gallus (“rooster”). The hen, gallina, continues the Latin feminine gallīna, recorded in Spanish in a charter of 1050. The same Latin word is Portuguese galo, Galician…
gastar
It is inherited from Latin vastāre (“to lay waste, devastate”), pronounced *wastare in late Latin under the influence of a West Germanic verb, the source of Old High German wuostan and German wüsten…
gato
The word for the cat is inherited from Old Spanish gato, inherited from Late Latin cattus (“cat”), a word of uncertain origin. The same word is Portuguese gato, Galician gato, Catalan gat, French…
gayo
1. The word for the jay is inherited from Late Latin gaius, through Old Spanish gayo. The Late Latin bird name is generally taken from the Roman first name Latin Gaius, as urraca “magpie” is a…
general
It is borrowed from Latin generālis (“of a kind; general”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is formed on genus (“birth, race, kind”) with the suffix -ālis. The noun goes back to…
género
It is borrowed from Latin genus (“birth, lineage; kind, sort”), a learned word. The Spanish form is built on the stem of the Latin oblique cases: Corominas suggests it started from the much-used…