admonición

Forms

admonición f (plural admoniciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin admonitiō (“a reminder; a warning”),^[2][1][3] from admoneō (“to remind, warn”), formed from ad- and moneō (“to remind, tell”).^[4][5] Vox dates the borrowing to the 16th century; the CDH has it from the middle of the 15th.^[6][7] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of amonestar, the old verb that comes indirectly from the same Latin verb, perhaps crossed with molestō (“to trouble”).^[8][9]

De Vaan traces the Latin verb to Proto-Italic *moneje- and Proto-Indo-European *mon-eie- (“to make think of, remind”), comparing Sanskrit मानयति (mānáyati, “to honour, respect”).^[10] Wiktionary explains it as a causative of *men- (“to think”).^[1] In Medieval Latin the noun also meant a sermon and a summons to court or to a duty.^[11]

The same Latin noun gave French admonition, Italian ammonizione and Portuguese admonição.^[12][13][14] The French word is a 12th-century learned remodelling of an older Old French amonition.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is El Tostado's Libro de amor e amicicia (1440–1455), of one who corrects his sinning brother por admoniçiones and brings him back to good, after Saint Matthew.^[7] The sense is a brotherly warning meant to correct, which is still the core of the word.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed learned and mostly religious or moral.^[7][3] Nebrija's Latin–Spanish Lexicon (1492) explains Latin admonitio as recordación, “reminding”, but his Spanish–Latin Vocabulario has no entry for it.^[15] 16th-century writers used it of counsel and warnings, from Juan Justiniano's Vives (1528) to Pedro Mexía (1547).^[7][16] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) defined it as a warning given to someone to amend his conduct, and noted that amonestación was by then the more common word.^[16]

Feijoo (1729) and Isla (1732) still wrote of a caritativa admonición and an admonición fraterna.^[16] The Academy's 1899 edition gave its Latin etymology and defined it by amonestación.^[17] Moliner marks it as a learned word.^[3]

Timeline

• 1440–1455 – admoniçiones in El Tostado's Libro de amor e amicicia.^[7]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Lexicon glosses Latin admonitio as recordación.^[15]
• 1528 – first record without a later witness, in Juan Justiniano's translation of Vives.^[7]
• 1547 – Pedro Mexía's Historia imperial speaks of a secret admonition.^[16]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that amonestación is more usual.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology “from Latin admonitio”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. An admonition: a warning or amonestación given to someone to correct their conduct: El juez le dirigió una dura admonición.^[2][1][3]
2. A reproach; reconvención.^[2]

Related words

• amonestar
• amonestación
• monitor
• premonitorio
• Latin admonitio

Usage notes

Admonición is a formal, learned word; the everyday word for a reprimand is amonestación.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. admonición
3. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. admonición
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. admonitiō
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. admoneo
6. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. admonición
7. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. admonición
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amonestar
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 245
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. admonitio
12. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. admonition
13. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 103
14. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. admonição
15. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. admonición
16. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. admonición
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 20