hasta (Spanish)

Where does "hasta" come from?

The Spanish word 'hasta' is inherited from Old Spanish 'fasta', although its ultimate origin remains uncertain. Scholarly theories range from a derivation of the Arabic 'ḥattā' meaning 'until' to Latin phrases such as 'ad ista' meaning 'to this' or a combination of 'faciem' and 'intrā'. Before 'fasta' became the established form in the 14th century, the language utilized various earlier variants like 'ata' and 'adta' beginning as early as the 10th century. These early forms are often linked to a separate derivation from Latin 'ad' and 'intrā'. Due to this long history of variation across pre-literary and medieval texts, the word stands as a complex example of linguistic evolution within the Iberian Peninsula.

Full etymology tree

• hasta (Spanish), 'even'
  • inherited fasta (Old Spanish)
    • derived حَتَّى (ḥattā) (Arabic), 'until, as far as, to the point of, even up to'
    • derived ad ista (Latin)
    • compound faciem (Latin), 'accusative singular of faciēs'
    • compound intrā (Latin), 'within; inside'

Ancestors

• faciem (Latin)
• intra (Latin)
• ad (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

• fasta (Asturian)
• ata (Galician)
• até (Portuguese)

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris