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Español

Esta pregunta me recuerda a una frase similar, "desde luego", que no es eso literalmente, sino que significa "por supuesto" (según el DRAE):

luego.
[...]
desde ~.

  1. loc. adv. Ciertamente, indudablemente, sin duda alguna.
  2. loc. adv. p. us. Inmediatamente, sin tardanza.

¿Alguien podría explicar cómo ha obtenido este signficado la frase?

Inglés

This question reminds me of a similar phrase, desde luego, which literally means "since later" but actually means "of course" (according to RAE):

luego.
[...]
desde ~.

  1. loc. adv. Ciertamente, indudablemente, sin duda alguna.
  2. loc. adv. p. us. Inmediatamente, sin tardanza.

Could anyone explain me how this phrase gained its current meaning?

share|improve this question
+1 This one's definitely confused me too. – jrdioko Dec 7 '11 at 17:15
2  
Here:forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=347048 they talk about "desde luego" the last entry is really interesting, but I'm in a hurry so if someone wants to elaborate an answer from it... please? – Laura Dec 7 '11 at 17:45
Do you mean "meaning and etymology"? I'm not sure how I'm supposed to parse the question title. – hippietrail Dec 8 '11 at 12:30
1  
@hippietrail, the title was edited by someone else. Anyway I edited it as you suggested. – kodkod Dec 8 '11 at 16:21
2  
Oh, the wordreference discussion is great- short version: "desde luego" originally was used as "from now on" or "from then" in "law" stuff, and people interpreting it as "things should be this way" (i.e. "desde luego, todos los que roben pescado serán decapitados" -> "from now on, people who steal fish will be beheaded", then "desde luego" is associated with "this is the right way to do things"). – alex Dec 9 '11 at 11:01

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

«Desde luego» usually means of course in modern Spanish.

desde luego.

  1. loc. adv. Ciertamente, indudablemente, sin duda alguna. (of course, certainly, without a doubt)
  2. loc. adv. p. us. Inmediatamente, sin tardanza. (immediately, right now, without delay)

The second definition is old Spanish (18th-19th century) and nowadays has only use in legal language such as in court. Later, this meaning was distorted and began to mean a confirmation of what was just said, and therefore the current meaning is that: of course.

share|improve this answer
Welcome to the site! Do you happen to have a source explaining the semantic shift you described? – jrdioko Dec 12 '11 at 21:33
@jrdioko Thanks. No. I couldn't find any appropiate documentation for this subject. The only thing you can find is texts 200 years old with the old meaning. – pferor Dec 12 '11 at 22:26

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