viuda

Etymology

From Latin vidua, following metathesis.

Noun

viuda f (plural viudes)

1. widow (a woman whose husband has died)

Etymology

From Latin vidua, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂. In the Middle Ages, jurists introduced a learned Latin borrowing vídua to replace the inherited Old Catalan form viuva (from a Vulgar Latin *viduva). The current form viuda supposedly emerged as a compromise between the two forms^[1]. The masculine form was derived from the feminine. Cf. also Spanish viuda, which may have influenced it.

Adjective

viuda f sg

1. feminine singular of viudo

Noun

viuda f (plural viudes, masculine viudo)

1. widow

References

Etymology

From Old Spanish viuda, vibda, bibda, biuda, from Latin vidua, following metathesis^[1], and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂. The Spanish word may have had some later influence from the Latin in the Middle Ages; compare the strictly popular Old Spanish form viuva, which is the form also found in Portuguese and Old Catalan, deriving from a Vulgar Latin *viduva.

Noun

viuda f (plural viudas, masculine viudo, masculine plural viudos)

1. widow

Adjective

viuda

1. Feminine singular of adjective viudo.

References