View source for Diego

{{Short description|Male given name}}
{{About||a list of people with the given name|List of people with given name Diego|the surname|Diego (surname)||Diego (disambiguation)}}
{{Accuracy|date=May 2021}}
{{Pp-move-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Infobox Given Name Revised
| name          = Diego
| image         = 
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = 
| pronunciation = 
| gender        = Male
| region        = [[Spain]]
| origin        = <!-- Disputed -->
| related names = [[Diogo (name)|Diogo]]
| footnotes     = 
}}

'''Diego''' is a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] masculine given name. The [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] equivalent is '''[[Diogo (name)|Diogo]]'''. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''.

The name also has several [[patronym]]ic derivations, listed below.

== Etymology ==
=== ''Tiago'' hypothesis ===
Diego has long been interpreted as variant of ''Tiago'' (also spelled as ''[[Thiago]]''), an abbreviation of ''Santiago'', from the older ''Sant Yago'' "Saint [[Jacob (name)|Jacob]]", in English known as [[James the Great|Saint James]] or as ''San-Tiago'' ([[cf.]] ''[[San Diego]]'').<ref name=Becker/> This has been the standard interpretation of the name since at least the 19th century, as it was reported by [[Robert Southey]] in 1808<ref>Robert Southey, ''Chronicle of the Cid'' (1808), [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQhlAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA379 footnote p. 379].</ref> and by Apolinar Rato y Hevia (1891).<ref>Apolinar Rato y Hevia [1830-1894], ''Vocabulario de las palabras y frases bables'', Madrid (1891): ''"Yago, m. n. de v. Tiago, Jacome, Jacobo, Diego. De todos estos modos se decia Santiago."''</ref> The suggestion that this identification may be a [[folk etymology]], i.e. that ''Diego'' (and ''Didacus''; see below) may be of another origin and only later identified with ''Jacobo'', is made by Buchholtz (1894), though this possibility is judged as improbable by the author.<ref>H. Buchholtz, "Der Name Diego" in ''Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen'' 93/94 (1894), 274&ndash;278.</ref>

=== ''Didacus'' hypothesis ===
In the later 20th century, the traditional identification of ''Diego'' = ''Jacobo''{{clarification needed|date=August 2024}} came to be seen as untenable. Malkiel (1975) calls the equation an "odd couple" ({{langx|es|extraña pareja}}).<ref>Yakov Malkiel, "Espanol y portugues antiguos Diago, Diego y Diogo Entornoala hipercaracterizacion interna y externa" in ''Medioevo Romanzo'' 2 (1975), 177-192, cited after Becker (2009), 386, fn. 278.</ref> The name ''Didacus'', while unattested in antiquity,{{clarification needed|date=August 2024}} predates the earliest record of the form ''Diego''. The oldest record for ''Didacus'' according to Floriano (1949) dates to 747, with numerous further records during the 9th century.<ref>Antonio Cristino Floriano ''Diplomática española del período Astur: estudio de las fuentes documentales del Reino de Asturias (718-910)'' (1949), cited after Becker (2009), p. 387.</ref> Becker (2009) argues against possible derivation from the [[Greek language|Greek]] name ''[[Diadochus (disambiguation)|Diadochus]]'', but also against suggestions of [[Basque language|Basque]] and [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] derivations.<ref name=Becker>Lidia Becker, ''Hispano-romanisches Namenbuch: Untersuchung der Personennamen vorrömischer, griechischer und lateinisch-romanischer Etymologie auf der Iberischen Halbinsel im Mittelalter (6.–12. Jahrhundert)'' (De Gruyter, 2009), pp. 385–392.</ref>

''Didacus'' is recorded in the forms ''Diaco'' and ''Diago'' in the 10th century. The form ''Diego'' is first recorded in the late 11th century. Its original derivation from ''Didacus'' is uncertain, among other things because the shift from ''-ía-'' to ''-ié-'' is unexplained (Becker 2009:386). The name ''Diego Gonzalez'' is given to a character in the ''[[Cantar de mio Cid]]'', a 12th-century poem.<ref> v. 3646 ''Martín Antolínez e Diego Gonçález firiéronse de las lanças''</ref> It has been argued on metrical grounds that the name ''Diego'' in the ''Cantar'' represents an original ''Díago''.<ref>Becker (2009:386).</ref>

Medieval bearers of the name, such as [[Diego de Acebo]] (d. 1207), are recorded as ''Didacus'' in contemporary sources.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} ''Diego'' becomes the standard form of the name in the 14th century, and it is frequently given in the 16th century, e.g. [[Diego Laynez]], 1512&ndash;1565. The city of [[San Diego]] was named for the flagship of [[Sebastián Vizcaíno]] (1602), which was itself named for [[Didacus of Alcalá]] (d. 1463).{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

== As a patronym ==
The [[patronym]] for Diego is ''[[Díaz (surname)|Díaz]]'' in [[Castilian Spanish]] (used for example by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as [[El Cid]]) and ''[[Dias (surname)|Dias]]'' in Portuguese. Like many patronymics, these have become common surnames among Iberophones worldwide. The form ''Diéguez'' is much less common; ''Diegues'' can be found in [[Lusophone]] countries. [[Diego (surname)|''Diego'' and ''de Diego'']] can also be found as surnames.

== As an ethnic term ==
"Diego" as a [[metonym]] for a [[Spaniard]] is documented from around 1615. The term "[[Dago (slur)|Dago]]" as a generic name for Spaniards is recorded in the 19th century and may possibly be a derivation from ''Diego''. By the early 20th century, the term ''dago'' or ''dego'' was extended as an [[ethnic slur]] applied chiefly to [[Italian Americans]], besides also for anyone of [[Spanish people|Spanish]] or [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] descent.<ref name="González1996">{{cite book|last=González|first=Félix Rodríguez|title=Spanish Loanwords in the English Language: A Tendency Towards Hegemony Reversal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=09NEuGHh2R8C&pg=PA115|access-date=15 February 2013|year=1996|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110148459|page=115}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Dhiego]]
* [[List of people with given name Diego]]
* [[Saint Diego (disambiguation)]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Spanish masculine given names]]
[[Category:Masculine given names]]
[[ca:Dídac]]
[[nl:Diego]]
[[pt:Diego]]