Origin of the word "jamás"
Does anybody here know the origin of the word "jamás"? I know that many Spanish words come from Arabic (such as ojalá), because of Islam's historic presence in Spain. Is "jamás" another of those words?
5 Answers
Hola,
Deberías hacer una búsqueda en Google, bajo "etimología de jamás". Así encontraras lo que estás buscando.
As it's already pointed out, the etymology of this word is the Latin "iam magis".
That means the modern Spanish word jamás is actually the result of a combination (pardon my lay term) of two Latin words: iam, which means [now , by now, already]; of future time, [immediately, presently, soon; henceforth; further, moreover; just, indeed]; 'iam diu, iam dudum, iam pridem', [now for a long time]; and magis, which means [more , to a greater extent; rather, for preference]; 'non magis..quam', [not more..than, just as much..as]; 'quo magis..eo magis', [the more..the more]. Superl. maxime (maxume), [in the highest degree, most of all, especially, very much so]; 'quam maxime', [as much as possible]; with tum, cum, [just, precisely].
More simply, this simple analysis of the etymology of this word shows us that its meaning was based on, evolved and was understood like a temporal emphasizer.
DRAE says, "Del lat. iam magis, ya más." So, from the Latin for ya más. As I noticed while watching a movie in French the other day, the word is very similar in French--jamais, said zha-mey, I think.
Where you thinking of the Palestinian Islamic movement 'Hamas' which has the same pronunciation?
No connection there - especially as 'Hamas' is an acronym 
It is like in French: jamais
