Spanish words from Latin
1854 Spanish words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 21).
parte
It is inherited from Latin pars (“part, share”), continuing its accusative; Old Spanish parte has the same form. The masculine noun, a courier's dispatch, is the same word; Covarrubias explains it…
participar
It is borrowed from Latin participō (“to share; to take part”). The Latin verb is formed from particeps (“sharing, partaking; a sharer”), a compound of pars (“part”) and the element -ceps (“taking”)…
particular
It is borrowed from Late Latin particulāris (“of a part, partial; particular”). The Latin adjective, a post-classical word, is formed of particula (“small part”) and the suffix -āris. The noun is a…
partir
It is inherited from Latin partīrī (“to share out, divide”), also active partīre. The sense “to set out, leave” is a special application of “to separate”. The same word is Portuguese partir…
pasa
It is inherited from Latin passa (“spread out, dried”), short for ūva passa (“raisin, literally “spread grape””). The Latin word is the feminine of passus (“spread out; dry, wrinkled”), the past…
pasar
It is inherited from Old Spanish passar, inherited from Vulgar Latin *passāre, a verb formed from Latin passus (“step, pace”). This spelling with ⟨ss⟩ is the usual one from the Cantar de mio Cid to…
pasión
It is inherited from Old Spanish passion, borrowed from Latin passiō (“suffering”). The DLE calls the Latin word a calque of Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “experience; suffering; emotion”). The Latin…
paso
It is inherited from Latin passus (“step, pace”), written Old Spanish passo in the old language. Covarrubias and the Diccionario de Autoridades still wrote ⟨passo⟩. The same Latin word is Portuguese…
pasta
It is inherited from Late Latin pasta (“dough, paste”), a word in use at every period and common to all the western Romance languages. The Latin word was borrowed from Greek: the DLE gives Ancient…
pastura
It is inherited from Late Latin pastūra (“grazing, pasture”). Late Latin formed the noun from the stem of pāstus, the past participle of pāscō (“to feed, pasture”), with the suffix -ūra. Lewis and…
pata
It continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *patta (“paw, foot”), a word found in Spanish, Portuguese and French and of uncertain origin; Corominas thinks it probably imitates the sound of stamping and…
paternal
It is borrowed from Medieval Latin paternālis (“paternal”), which is formed from paternus (“of a father”) with the suffix -ālis. The Academy's older editions and Wiktionary instead treat it as a…
patriarcal
It is borrowed from Late Latin patriarchālis (“of a patriarch”). The Late Latin adjective is formed from patriarcha (“patriarch”) with the suffix -ālis. The Latin noun is from Ancient Greek…
patriota
It is borrowed from Late Latin patriōta (“fellow countryman”), a borrowing of Ancient Greek πατριώτης (patriṓtēs, “fellow countryman”). The DLE and Corominas name the Greek word itself as the…
patrón
It is borrowed from Latin patrōnus (“protector, defender”), a learned word first recorded in Alfonso de Palencia's Latin–Spanish dictionary; the feminine form is from patrōna. The Latin noun is a…
pausa
It is borrowed from Latin pausa (“pause, stop, cessation”), a learned word. The Latin noun and the Late Latin verb pausāre “to stop, rest” were taken from Greek: the DLE derives the noun from…
pavo
It is inherited from Latin pavus (“peacock”), a variant of pāvō found both in early Latin and in the late period. Wiktionary derives it from the classical form itself and calls the word a doublet of…
pavor
It is inherited from Latin pavor (“sudden fear, terror”). Because the usual word for fear in Spanish and Portuguese has always been miedo, from metus, and because the other Romance languages lost…
paz
It is inherited from Latin pāx (“peace; a settlement”), with the same form in Old Spanish, paz. The DCECH notes that the word has been in general use at every period. The same word is Portuguese…
pecado
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…
pecar
It is inherited from Old Spanish pecar, inherited from Latin pecco (“to make a mistake, do wrong”), but only as a semi-learned word. Corominas notes that the stressed /e/ never diphthongizes, from…
pecho
It is inherited from Old Spanish pechos, inherited from Latin pectus (“breast, chest”). The Latin word was a neuter, so the Romance form continues its accusative, which was the same as the…
pedir
It is inherited from Old Spanish pedir, inherited from Latin petere (“to make for; to seek; to ask for”). The change to the third conjugation, which Wiktionary writes as *petīre, is explained by the…
pelar
It is inherited from Latin pilāre (“to remove the hair”), from pilus (“hair”). In classical Latin the verb is recorded only as an intransitive “to grow hairy”; the sense “to strip of hair, depilate”…
peligro
It is inherited from Old Spanish periglo, inherited from Latin perīculum (“trial, test; danger”), by a semi-learned route. Wiktionary notes that a fully popular outcome would have been *perijo, and…
peligroso
It continues inherited from Old Spanish perigloso, inherited from Latin perīculōsus (“dangerous”), a semi-learned word like peligro. Corominas lists it among the derivatives of that noun, and…
pelo
It is inherited from Latin pilus (“a hair”). The same Latin word is Portuguese pelo, Catalan pèl, French poil, Italian pelo and Romanian păr. Meyer-Lübke takes the Portuguese word from Spanish…
pena
It is inherited from Old Spanish pena, inherited from Latin poena (“penalty, punishment”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “blood money, fine”). The Latin diphthong /oe/ became…
penetrable
It is borrowed from Latin penetrābilis (“penetrating; that can be penetrated”). The Latin adjective is formed from penetrō (“to enter, penetrate”) with the suffix -bilis. Wiktionary derives the verb…
penetración
It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin penetrātiō (“the action of piercing, penetration”). Corominas lists it among the derivatives of penetrar, which is from the second quarter of the 15th…
penetrar
It is borrowed from Latin penetrō (“to put inside; to enter, penetrate”). The Oxford Latin Dictionary connects the verb with penes (“in the power of”), with the ending of intrō (“to enter”). De Vaan…
penitente
It is borrowed from Latin paenitēns (“repenting, penitent”), the present participle of paeniteō (“to cause regret; to repent”). The OLD compares paene (“almost”), and Wiktionary suggests that the…
pensar
It is inherited from Old Spanish pensar, inherited from Latin pēnsō (“to weigh carefully; to consider”), the frequentative of pendō (“to weigh; to pay”). The Latin verb already had the figurative…
pensión
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin pēnsiō (“payment”), the noun of pendō (“to weigh out, pay”); the Latin noun first meant the weighing of goods given to someone. Gómez de Silva gives the…
peor
It is inherited from Latin peior (“worse”), the comparative of malus (“bad”). Old Spanish peior and, in old Aragonese texts, peyor keep the Latin /j/ between the vowels. The same Latin word is…
pepita
1. The word for the disease of hens is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pippīta, an altered form of Latin pituīta (“mucus, phlegm; pip of birds”). Corominas explains the change: the Latin word was often…
pequeño
The DLE calls it an expressive word, common to the Romance languages. Corominas places it in the large Romance family of words for “small” that begin with /p/, have a front vowel and a voiceless…
pera
It is inherited from Old Spanish pera, inherited from Vulgar Latin *pira, the plural of Latin pirum (“pear”). The Latin neuter plural was taken as a feminine singular, as in several other Spanish…
percibir
It continues inherited from Latin percipiō (“to seize; to gather; to perceive”). Vox calls it a popular word, not a learned one. The Latin verb, whose first senses were “to take possession of” and…
percusión
It is borrowed from Latin percussio (“a beating, striking”), a noun of action formed on percutiō (“to strike”). The Latin verb is made of per- and quatiō (“to shake”). Corominas lists the word in…
perder
It is inherited from Old Spanish perder, inherited from Latin perdō (“to destroy; to lose”). The Latin verb is formed per- (“through, completely”) and dō (“to give”), with the original sense “to…
perdición
It is borrowed from Latin perditio (“ruin, loss”). Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing from the Latin of the Church. This noun is formed from Latin perdō + -tiō, and Corominas explains perdō…
pérdida
It is inherited from Late Latin perdita (“loss”), the feminine past participle of perdō (“to lose, destroy”) used as a noun. Corominas calls it a semi-learned descendant of the Latin word, not a…
perdonar
It is inherited from Late Latin perdono (“to forgive”); the Old Spanish form was already perdonar. The verb was formed from Latin per- + dono (“to give”), with an intensive prefix; dono is from…
perecer
It is inherited from Old Spanish peresçer, an inchoative formed from Old Spanish perir + -ecer on the older verb of the same meaning. Old Spanish perir is from Latin perīre (“to pass away, perish”)…
perenne
It is borrowed from Latin perennis (“lasting the whole year, perpetual”), formed of per- (“through”) and annus (“year”), literally “lasting throughout the year”. Corominas lists it under año and…
perezoso
It is formed from Spanish pereza (“laziness”) + -oso. García de Diego sets up Vulgar Latin *pigritiosus behind the Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan words. According to Corominas, the derivative…
perfectamente
It is formed from Spanish perfecto + -mente. The adjective is from Latin perfectus, the past participle of perficiō (“to complete, perfect”), itself from faciō (“to do, make”); it is recorded since…
perfecto
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin perfectus (“finished, complete”), the past participle of perficiō (“to finish, complete”). The popular outcome of the Latin word appears in Asturian…
pergamino
It is inherited from Old Spanish pergamino, inherited from Late Latin pergamīnum, a late form of Latin pergamēna. The Latin word is from Ancient Greek περγαμηνή (pergamēnḗ), properly the feminine of…
período
It is borrowed from Latin periodus, which is from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “a going round, circuit”). Wiktionary calls the Latin source New Latin. The Greek word is formed from περί (perí…
perlesía
It is borrowed from Latin paralysis (“paralysis”), taken in a popular shape beside the learned parálisis: Autoridades and DICCA-XV derive it from the Latin and Greek word, and Corominas cites it…
permiso
It is borrowed from Latin permissum (“permission”), which belongs to permittō (“to allow”), formed from per- and mittō (“to send”). Corominas treats it with permitir (1438) under the verb meter, and…
permitir
It is borrowed from Latin permittō (“to let go through; to allow”). Corominas dates it to 1438, and Vox places the borrowing in the 15th century. The Latin verb is formed from per- (“through”) and…
pero
It is inherited from Old Spanish pero, inherited from Late Latin per hoc (“for this reason, therefore”), a phrase of per (“through, by means of”) and hoc (“this”), a neuter form of the demonstrative…
perpendicular
It is borrowed from Late Latin perpendiculāris (“perpendicular”), an adjective of geometry formed on perpendiculum (“plumb line”). That noun is made with the instrument suffix -culum from perpendō…
perpetuar
It is borrowed from Latin perpetuāre (“to make permanent, perpetuate”). DICCA-XV treats it as a derivative of perpetuo. The Latin verb is formed on perpetuus (“continuous, perpetual”), made of per-…
perseguir
It is inherited from Old Spanish perseguir, inherited from Latin persequor (“to follow persistently; to pursue”). As with seguir, the deponent infinitive of the Latin verb was replaced by an active…
perseverancia
It is borrowed from Latin persevērantia (“steadfastness, persistence”). The Latin noun is formed on persevērāns, the participle of persevērō (“to persist”), which is made of per- and sevērus…
persona
It is borrowed from Latin persōna (“actor's mask; character; personality; person”), a learned word used in every period. In Latin it meant first a mask, especially the actor's mask, then the part…