obertura

Forms

obertura f (plural obertures)^[1] Medieval texts also write ubertura, as Bernat Metge and the Tirant lo Blanc do.^[2] The DCVB records the pronunciations [uβəɾtúɾə] and [oβeɾtúɾa], and beside them forms with a diphthong in the first syllable, [əwβəɾtúɾə] and [awβeɾtúɾa].^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan obertura, which is inherited from Vulgar Latin *opertūra, an alteration of apertūra (“opening”).^[1] The DCVB and the GDLC give the Latin word as its source,^[3][4] while Coromines and Bruguera treat it as a derivative of obrir, recorded from about 1300, and compare the Latin noun.^[5][6]

The ⟨o-⟩ for Latin ⟨a-⟩ is that of the verb: the verb continues a spoken form *operiō of aperiō (“to open”), probably reshaped after its opposite cooperiō (“to cover”).^[7][6] It matches French ouverture and Occitan obertura,^[1] while Italian apertura, Spanish abertura and Portuguese abertura keep the vowel of the Latin word.^[8] Catalan also has a learned doublet, borrowed directly from the Latin noun (see Related words).^[1]

The Latin word was formed on the participle of that verb with the suffix -ūra.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Llibre dels fets of Jaume I, written between 1244 and 1274.^[5] CICA dates the manuscript it uses 1343.^[10] The oldest texts use the word for a slit, crack or hole: Bernat Metge in 1381 writes of a great ubertura in a mountain.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Medieval writers also used the word for a beginning or way in: the Doctrina compendiosa attributed to Eiximenis speaks of a clau e ubertura, “key and opening”, to every good.^[2] In feudal law it named the return of a fief to the lord who had granted it, when the vassal had committed a crime against him and was not pardoned; the GDLC places this use in the 11th to 13th centuries.^[3][4]

Onofre Pou in 1575 used it for the width of a furrow, and Lacavalleria in 1696 for an occasion or facility and for the opening of a university.^[5] Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà add the solemn act that opens a public function, such as the start of the academic year.^[11] Labèrnia lists the act of opening, a crack, a means or occasion, a window, and figuratively frankness in dealings.^[12] The musical sense appears in Escrig's Valencian dictionary of 1851, and Fabra's dictionary keeps it beside the act of opening and the gap in a wall.^[13][14] The DIEC2 adds the opening moves in chess, the part of a syllable before its nucleus, and a liberalising policy.^[15]

Timeline

• 1244–1274 – Jaume I's Llibre dels fets; the manuscript CICA uses is of 1343.^[10][5]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge writes ubertura in Lo somni.^[2]
• 1460 – the Tirant lo Blanc speaks of the slashed openings of a gown.^[2]
• 1575 – Onofre Pou's Thesaurus puerilis uses it for the width of a furrow.^[5]
• 1696 – Lacavalleria's dictionary gives it the sense of occasion or facility.^[5]
• 1803–1805 – Esteve, Bellvitges and Juglà record the opening of a public function.^[11]
• 1851 – Escrig records the orchestral piece at the start of a performance.^[13]
• 1932 – Fabra's Diccionari general heads the word.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of opening or of being opened; its effect: opening: L'obertura del curs es fa al setembre.^[15][4]
2. obertura de la caça: the start of the hunting season.^[15]
3. (music) An orchestral piece that begins an opera, suite or other work: overture.^[15][4]
4. (chess) The opening moves of a game, which set each player's tactics.^[15][4]
5. (phonology) The part of a syllable before its nucleus, the onset.^[15]
6. (politics) The admission of more liberal and democratic currents into a regime.^[15]
7. A gap that lets someone or something through; a space left open in a wall or roof: aperture, gap.^[15][3]
8. The degree to which the sides of an angle or a compass diverge; in phonetics, the separation of the organs of the mouth in producing a sound.^[15][4]
9. (history) In feudal law, the return of a fief to the lord who had granted it.^[3][4]
10. (dated) Openness, frankness of conduct.^[3][12]

Word family

• reobertura

Related words

• obert
• obrir
• apertura
• Latin apertūra
• French ouverture
• Spanish abertura

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. obertura
3. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. obertura
4. ^ a b c d e f g Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. obertura
5. ^ a b c d e f Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 21
6. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 646
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. obrir
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 516
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. obertura
11. ^ a b Esteve, Joaquim; Bellvitges, Josep; Juglà, Antoni (1803–1805), Diccionario catalán-castellano-latino, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. obertura
12. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. obertura
13. ^ a b Escrig, José (1851), Diccionario valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. obertura
14. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. obertura
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. obertura