amplitud

Forms

amplitud f (plural amplitudes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin amplitūdō (“size, extent; greatness, dignity”).^[2][1][3] The Latin noun is formed amplus (“large, ample”) + -tūdō.^[4][1] The BDELC lists it among the learned words beside ancho, which continues the same Latin adjective.^[3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese amplitude, Catalan amplitud, French amplitude and Italian amplitudine.^[5][6][1] Portuguese also has amplidão, which Nascentes explains as a modern formation on the model of multidão.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo's Libro de Don Claribalte of 1519, where the speaker trusts that the amplitud of the person he addresses will make up for what he cannot repay: the word means “greatness, generosity”.^[8] The TDHLE's first quotation is from the same author's Historia de las Indias (1535): la amplitud & grandeza de estos estados “the extent and greatness of these states”.^[9] The BDELC dates the word to 1617.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries amplitud meant the extent of a territory or jurisdiction, and also rank and dignity, as in a Latin–Spanish lexicon of 1644 that renders dignitas as dignidad, honra, reputación, amplitud.^[9] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as breadth or extent and gave the astronomical amplitud ortiva and occidua, the arc of the horizon between the true east or west point and the point where a star rises or sets.^[10][11] Gaspar y Roig (1853–1855) added the magnetic amplitude of navigators and senses in mathematics and gunnery.^[12]

The figurative amplitud de miras “breadth of outlook” is in Valera in 1886.^[9] The DRAE of 2001 defined it as a capacity for intellectual or moral understanding; the DLE now gives “variety, diversity” and technical senses in physics, economics and mathematics.^[13][2]

Timeline

• 1519 – Fernández de Oviedo's Libro de Don Claribalte has amplitud, the first record.^[8]
• 1535 – Oviedo's Historia de las Indias uses it of the extent of the Spanish possessions.^[9][8]
• 1617 – Suárez de Figueroa's Passagero, the BDELC's date.^[3][9]
• 1690 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[14]
• 1726 – Autoridades records the general and the astronomical sense.^[10]
• 1886 – Valera writes amplitud de miras.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. extent, breadth, spaciousness: La amplitud del patio nos sorprendió.^[2][15][1]
2. Variety, diversity.^[2]
3. (figurative) Breadth of understanding, as in amplitud de miras “broad-mindedness”.^[13][1][15]
4. (astronomy) The angle between the vertical plane through the line of sight to a star and the prime vertical.^[2][15]
5. (economics) The difference between the highest and lowest output in an economic cycle.^[2]
6. (physics) The difference between the maximum and minimum values of an oscillation; the amplitude of a wave.^[2][16]
7. (mathematics) The difference between the maximum and minimum values of a variable or function; the range.^[2][17]

Related words

• amplio
• ampliar
• amplificar
• ancho
• Latin amplitūdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. amplitud
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ancho
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. amplitūdō
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. amplitude
6. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. amplitud
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. amplidão
8. ^ 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. amplitud
9. ^ 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. amplitud
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
11. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 98
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. amplitud
14. ^ 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. amplitud
15. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amplitud
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. amplitud
17. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. amplitud