Spanish words from Latin
1854 Spanish words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 19).
narrar
It is borrowed from Latin narrō (“to tell, relate”), a learned word. The Latin verb, also written nārō, is related to gnārus (“knowing”). De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *gnārāje- (“to make…
nasa
It is inherited from Latin nassa (“wicker fish trap”). The same Latin word is Portuguese nassa, Galician nasa, Catalan nansa, French nasse and Italian nassa. Coromines explains the ⟨n⟩ of the…
natural
It is borrowed from Latin nātūrālis (“by birth; natural”), a learned word. Corominas dates it, like natura, to about 1140. The Latin adjective is formed on nātūra (“conditions of birth; nature”)…
naturalmente
It is formed from Spanish natural + -mente. The adjective, recorded about 1140, is from Latin nātūrālis. The adverb ending continues -mente, -miente and -mientre, from Latin mente, the ablative of…
nave
It is inherited from Old Spanish nave, inherited from Latin nāvis (“ship”). Wiktionary gives the Old Spanish forms naf and naue. The old word nao, first recorded around 1260, is a separate borrowing…
navegar
It is inherited from Old Spanish navegar, inherited from Latin navigō (“to go by ship, sail”). Corominas lists it among the derivatives of nave and dates it 1438. The same Latin verb is Portuguese…
navidad
It is inherited from Late Latin nātīvitās (“birth”); Old Spanish nadvidad and navidat are its oldest forms. The BDELC and the Academy's dictionary from 1884 describe it as a shortening of natividad…
necesario
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable; indispensable”). The same Latin word gave Portuguese necessário, Catalan necessari and French nécessaire. The Latin adjective is…
negación
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin negātiō (“denial, refusal”). The BDELC lists it under the inherited verb negar, recorded from 1044, and dates the noun to 1490; the CDH has it in a judicial…
negar
It is inherited from Latin negō (“to say no, deny, refuse”). The same Latin verb is Portuguese negar, Galician negar, Asturian negar, Catalan negar, Occitan negar, French nier and Italian negare…
negligente
It is borrowed from Latin negligens (“careless”), the present participle of neglegō (“to disregard, neglect”). The Spanish form follows the Latin variant spelled with ⟨i⟩. The Latin verb is formed…
negociación
It is borrowed from Latin negōtiātiō (“business, trade”), a noun formed negōtior (“to do business”) + -tiō. Within Spanish it is the noun of action of negociar, with the suffix -ción. The BDELC…
negocio
It is borrowed from Latin negōtium (“occupation, business, affair”), a learned word. Corominas dates it 1220–1250, two centuries before its base ocio, which is first recorded in 1433. The Latin noun…
negro
It is inherited from Latin niger (“black, dark”). It is the Latin word for the colour, used of the body and figuratively of what is gloomy or ill-omened, as the opposite of albus and candidus. The…
nervio
It is inherited from Old Spanish nerbio, inherited from Vulgar Latin nervium (“sinew, nerve”), a variant of Latin nervus. The older form niervo, with the diphthong of stressed ⟨e⟩, continues the…
neutralidad
It is formed from Spanish neutral + -idad. Terreros in 1786 gave Medieval Latin neutralitas among its Latin equivalents, beside French neutralité and Italian neutralità. The adjective neutral (1490)…
ni
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…
nieve
It is inherited from Old Spanish nieve, inherited from Vulgar Latin *neve, an alteration of the accusative of Latin nix (“snow”). The same word is Portuguese neve, Galician neve, Asturian nieve…
no
It is inherited from Latin nōn (“not”). In Old Spanish the word was usually Old Spanish non, with ⟨no⟩ beside it: the DEMel counts about 17,800 records of ⟨non⟩ against some 1,700 of ⟨no⟩. García de…
noble
It is borrowed from Latin nōbilis (“known, famous, noble”). The BDELC dates it to 1184. Old Spanish texts of the 13th century also write nobre. The same Latin word gave Portuguese nobre, Catalan…
noche
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…
nombrar
It is inherited from Old Spanish nombrar, inherited from Latin nōmināre (“to name; to appoint”). An older Castilian form nomnar shows the stage before /mn/ became /mbr/: the Latin infinitive first…
nombre
It is inherited from Old Spanish nombre, inherited from Latin nōmen (“name”), through a Vulgar Latin form *nōmine made on its oblique stem. Old Spanish nomne shows the loss of the unstressed vowel…
nominativo
It is borrowed from Latin nōminātīvus (“serving to name; nominative”), a learned word of the family of nombre. The Latin adjective is formed from nōminō (“to name”) and the suffix -īvus; the verb…
nos
It is inherited from Latin nōs (“we, us”), the plural of ego (“I”), and Old Spanish nos has the same form. Wiktionary traces it to the Latin accusative and to the dative nōbīs. The same pronoun is…
nota
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin nota (“mark, sign”), first recorded in the mid-13th century. The Latin word meant first “stain” or “mark”, then “sign”. The Latin verb notō (“to mark, write…
notar
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…
notario
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin notārius (“shorthand writer, secretary”), first recorded in the first half of the 13th century. The Latin noun is formed from nota (“mark, sign; shorthand…
noticia
It is borrowed from Latin nōtitia (“knowledge; acquaintance”), first recorded in the semi-learned form nodicia. García de Diego notes the old Castilian form beside Old Galician-Portuguese nodiça…
notificar
It is borrowed from Latin nōtificō (“to make known”). Corominas lists it as a learned word in the family of conocer, as a compound of the rare noto “known”, and dates it to Nebrija. This verb is…
notoriedad
It is formed from Spanish notorio + -edad. The Autoridades gives Medieval Latin notorietas (“public knowledge”) as its Latin equivalent, a word recorded by Du Cange, and Wikcionario takes the…
novedad
It is inherited from Latin novitās (“newness, novelty”), continuing its accusative form. DICCA-XV calls it a borrowing from Latin. Corominas dates it to 1444, but DEMel has the Old Spanish form…
novela
It is borrowed from Italian novella (“news; short tale”). The Italian word is from Vulgar Latin *novella, the neuter plural of Latin novellus (“new, young”) taken as a feminine singular, “new…
novicio
It is borrowed from Latin novīcius (“new, recent; a newly bought slave”), a learned word that Corominas lists among the learned derivatives of the family of nuevo. Gómez de Silva takes it through…
noviembre
It is inherited from Latin November (“November”). The Latin month was named from novem (“nine”) because it was the ninth month of the Roman year, which began in March. The REW explains the Old…
novio
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *novius (“newly married”), a derivative of novus (“new”). Latin records Novius only as a personal name, borne among others by a writer of Atellan farces. Corominas…
núcleo
It is borrowed from Latin nucleus (“kernel; stone of a fruit”), a learned word. The Latin noun is a diminutive of nux (“nut”), with an irregular change from the feminine to the masculine; Plautus…
nudo
It is inherited from Old Spanish nudo, inherited from Vulgar Latin *nūdus, a variant of Latin nōdus (“knot”). The BDELC derives it from the classical form and calls the change of the Latin long /o/…
nuestro
It is inherited from Old Spanish nuestro, inherited from Latin noster (“our”). The same Latin word is Portuguese nosso, Galician noso, Asturian nuestru, Catalan nostre, French notre, Italian nostro…
nueve
It is inherited from Latin novem (“nine”), Old Spanish nueve, also nuef. The same Latin word is Portuguese nove, Galician nove, Asturian nueve, Catalan nou, Occitan nòu, French neuf, Italian nove…
nuevo
It is inherited from Latin novus (“new”). Old Spanish wrote it nuevo, mostly spelt ⟨nueuo⟩, with the rarer ⟨nouo⟩. The same Latin word is Portuguese novo, Galician novo, Asturian nuevu, Aragonese…
número
It is borrowed from Latin numerus (“number; rank, category”). García de Diego counts the Spanish and Portuguese word among the learned ones; the inherited outcome of the Latin word is Catalan…
nuncio
It is borrowed from Latin nūntius (“messenger; message”), a learned word. Bénaben adds that its special sense, the diplomatic agent of the Holy See, came through Italian nunzio. The same Latin word…
nutricio
It is borrowed from Latin nūtrīcius (“of a nurse; foster-father”), a learned word first recorded at the beginning of the 17th century. Bénaben compares the inherited nodriza “wet nurse”, which goes…
nutrimento
It is borrowed from Latin nūtrīmentum (“nourishment”), a learned word. The Latin noun was formed from nūtriō (“to nourish”) with the suffix -mentum, and meant what feeds or sustains anything, also…
nutrir
It is borrowed from Latin nūtrīre (“to suckle, nourish, rear”), a learned word. Corominas dates it 1623, but the Old Spanish Textual Archive has the form in a text of 1498. It replaced Old Spanish…
o
It is inherited from Old Spanish o, inherited from Latin aut (“or”). The same Latin word is Portuguese ou, Galician ou, Catalan o, French ou, Italian o and Romanian au. Early texts also have the…
obediencia
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin oboedientia (“obedience”). The Latin noun is formed from oboediēns (“obedient”) with the suffix -ia. That is the present participle of oboediō (“to obey”)…
obediente
It is borrowed from Latin oboediēns (“obedient”), the present participle of oboediō (“to obey”). The DRAE of 2001 describes it as the old present participle of obedecer, a verb also taken from…
obispo
It is inherited from Late Latin episcopus (“overseer; bishop”), in a semi-learned form; the Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “guardian, protector, overseer”). The Greek word is…
óbito
It is borrowed from Latin obitus (“a going down; end; death”), a learned word. Vox dates the borrowing to the 19th century. The Latin noun was derived from obeō (“to go towards; to die”), a compound…
objeto
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin obiectum (“something placed before; an object”), first recorded in 1438 according to Corominas. The Academy derives it from the participle obiectus (“thrown…
oblación
It is borrowed from Late Latin oblātiō (“offering”), a learned word. The Latin noun is post-classical; it was formed on oblātus, the participle of offerō (“to offer”), with the suffix -tiō, and…
obligar
It is borrowed from Latin obligō (“to tie up; to bind by a contract or judgement; to force”), a learned word. The Latin verb is made of ob- and ligō (“to bind, tie”). Spanish continues the simple…
obra
It is inherited from Old Spanish obra, inherited from Latin opera (“work, effort”); the older form huebra gave way to it under the influence of the verb obrar. Modern Spanish keeps it as huebra, a…
obrero
It is inherited from Latin operārius (“labourer, workman”). Wiktionary notes that it can also be analysed within Spanish as obra with the suffix -ero. Its learned doublet is operario, borrowed at…
observar
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin observō (“to watch; to heed, comply with”). The Latin verb is formed ob- and servō (“to watch, keep safe”). Corominas groups it with conservar, preservar…
obtener
It is borrowed from Latin obtineō (“to hold, maintain; to obtain”), adapted to the conjugation of tener. The Latin verb is formed from ob- and teneō (“to hold”). Corominas glosses the Latin as “to…
obvio
It is borrowed from Latin obvius (“that is in the way, meeting”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is formed from ob- (“facing, against”) and via (“road, way”). Gómez de Silva derives it from the…
ocasión
It is borrowed from Latin occāsiō (“opportunity, favourable moment”), taken from the accusative as a learned word. Vox dates the borrowing to the 12th century. The Latin noun is formed from occīdō…