ampliar

Forms

ampliar (first-person singular present amplío, first-person singular preterite amplié, past participle ampliado)^[1] Old texts also spell it anpliar;^[2] amplear was recorded as a regional form in Chile in 1860 and in Guatemala in 1941.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin ampliō (“to enlarge, extend”).^[4][5][1] The Latin verb is formed on amplus (“large, wide”).^[6][1][7] Corominas dates the Spanish verb to the second quarter of the 15th century.^[4]

The popular outcome of the same Latin verb is anchar, its doublet.^[1][8] The adjective amplio, first recorded about 1640, is an alteration of 16th-century ampio under the influence of the verb.^[4]

De Vaan reconstructs the adjective as *am-lo- (“seizable”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃mh₃- (“to grab”), but notes that the change of *-ml- to -mpl- this requires is hard to date early enough.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first hits in the CDH are Aragonese texts of the 1380s: Juan Fernández de Heredia's Gran crónica de España of 1385 says that people estendieron & ampliaron lur estiendas “spread out and widened their tents”.^[10] A Zaragoza document of 1399 uses the participle of extending a licence, and Enrique de Villena wrote in 1424 that Ptolemy increased the number of stars to 1,084.^[3] The sense from the start was “to make larger or wider”, of things and of powers.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century Villena already used it for expanding a subject in a commentary.^[10] In the Americas it is recorded from 1546, in Santo Domingo.^[12] The Academy's first dictionary of 1726 defined it as to widen, extend or make something greater than it was, quoting Saavedra Fajardo on ruling well rather than enlarging an empire.^[13] Gaspar y Roig added the senses “to extend a time limit”, “to treat a subject more fully” and, in law, ampliar una declaración “to reopen a statement with new questions”.^[14] The photographic sense, reproducing a picture or plan at a larger size, is in the Academy's dictionary by 2001.^[15] Moliner also records its use for increasing the volume of a sound.^[16]

Timeline

• 1385 – Juan Fernández de Heredia uses the verb in his Gran crónica de España.^[10]
• 1399 – a Zaragoza document uses sobre ampliado of a licence.^[3]
• 1424 – Enrique de Villena uses it in his exposition of a psalm.^[3]
• 1546 – the first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[12]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it and gives Latin dilatare and extendere.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin ampliare, from amplus.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To enlarge, extend or widen; to make something bigger in size, number or reach: Van a ampliar el horario de la biblioteca.^[5][16][1]
2. (transitive) To reproduce a photograph, plan or text at a larger size than the original.^[5][1]
3. (transitive) To expand on or develop a subject or an explanation.^[16][1]
4. (reflexive) ampliarse: to grow, to become larger or wider.^[1]

Word family

• ampliable
• ampliador
• ampliatorio

Related words

• ampliación
• amplificar
• amplio
• ancho
• anchar
• Latin ampliō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ampliar
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ampliar
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ancho
5. ^ a b c 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. ampliar
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 61
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ampliare
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ampliar
11. ^ Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 298
12. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. amplear
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 276
14. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 143
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. ampliar
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ampliar
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 69