ya

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish ya, inherited from Latin iam (“now, already”).^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Portuguese já, Galician xa, Asturian yá, Catalan ja and Italian già.^[1][5] French déjà is formed from dès and the old form Old French ja.^[6] Spanish jamás contains the same word with magis (“more”), but its ⟨j⟩ shows that it is not a native outcome: Corominas takes it, probably, from Old Occitan ja mais.^[2][3]

De Vaan explains it as an old accusative singular feminine of the pronoun is (“he, this”), meaning “as far as this is concerned”, hence “now”, and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₁i-h₂-m (“this”).^[7] Wiktionary derives it instead from *Hyā́m, the accusative singular feminine of the relative *Hyós (“who, which”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the first record to a charter of 1001 in Oelschläger's list, the BDELC to 1101; the word is then common in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[2][3] The earliest hit in the CDH that is not known only from a later copy, the Cortes of Benavente of 1202, uses it of the past: como ya fuera juzgado entre mis antecesores “as had already been judged among my predecessors”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning ya was used much as it is in modern Spanish and as iam was in Latin.^[2] Old Spanish combined it with quantifiers: ya quantos “some”, ya quando “sometimes”, ya como “somewhat”.^[2] The distributive ya … ya … “now … now …”, found since Berceo, has Latin roots;^[9] ya que “since” is frequent from the classical authors on, and also meant “although” and “once, when”.^[2]

The Autoridades gave three senses: past time, the present in relation to the past, and some other, future occasion.^[9] In 1817 the Academy added the interjection: remembering something forgotten (ya, ya), scorn or disbelief, and agreement.^[10] In modern speech it is used, often repeated, to agree with what someone says; in Chile plain ya answers an order, like “all right”, and Argentina has ya mismo “right now”.^[2] The DCECH rejects German influence on the Chilean use and thinks the Mapuche affirmative ya a likelier source, unless the Mapuche word is itself from Spanish.^[2] Mexico has ya mero “in a moment”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1001 – the first record, in a charter (DCECH).^[2]
• 1101 – the date of first record in the BDELC.^[3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses the adverb often.^[2][8]
• 1202 – the Cortes of Benavente: como ya fuera juzgado.^[8]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for past time.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario: “Ja adverbio de tiempo. iam”.^[12]
• 1528 – the first record from the Americas, ya que in Santo Domingo.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records the interjection.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. iam”.^[14]

Meanings

Adverb

1. already; at a past time: Ya te lo he explicado dos veces.^[4][1]
2. now, at once, right away, also emphatic: ¡Lo quiero ya!^[4]
3. Now, by now, in contrast with before: Antes vivía aquí, pero ya no.^[4]
4. At some future time, eventually: Ya hablaremos de eso.^[4]
5. Finally, at last: Ya es hora de decidirse.^[4]
6. Right away, in answer to someone who calls: ¡Ya bajo!^[4]
7. Used to grant or support what one is told: Ya, ya lo sé.^[4]

Conjunction

1. ya … ya …: now … now, whether … or: ya en casa, ya en el trabajo.^[4][1]

Interjection

1. (colloquial) Shows that one remembers or realises something, or that one takes no notice of what is said; repeated, it intensifies.^[4]

Related words

• jamás
• Latin iam
• Portuguese já

Usage notes

Set phrases include ya que “since, given that”, si ya “provided that”, pues ya “of course” (usually ironic) and the emphatic que ya ya.^[4] The Old Spanish vocative particle ya “O!” (¡Ya Campeador! in the Cid) has a separate source: Andalusian Arabic yá, from Classical Arabic yā.^[15][2] It is especially epic, but also occurs in Juan Ruiz and the Corbacho, and lived on in speech, above all among the moriscos, into the 16th century.^[2][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 6, 770
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ya
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ya
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. jam
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. ya
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ya
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. ya
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 903
11. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. ya
12. ^ 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, p. s.v. ya
13. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ya
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1103
15. ^ Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. ya
16. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. ya