amputación

Forms

amputación f (plural amputaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin amputātiō (“pruning; cutting off”),^[2][3][4][1] the noun of amputō (“to cut off; to prune”), formed with -tiō.^[5][1] The verb is formed of ambi- (“around”) and putō (“to prune, cut back”).^[5][1]

Corominas lists it, with amputar, among the learned words taken from derivatives of the Latin verb for “to prune”, beside disputar and diputar; the inherited descendant of that verb is podar.^[6][7] The same Latin word is French amputation and English amputation.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in El Tostado's Libro de las paradojas (1437, in a 15th-century copy), about men disfigured by a wound who may not be ordained: si la ferida o amputaçion de miembro alguno es fea “if the wound or the cutting off of any limb is unsightly”.^[9] The next records are of the 18th century, when José Francisco de Isla (1732) prescribes removing infected toes and Feijoo (1736) describes the pain felt in a foot that has been cut off.^[9][4]

Semantic evolution

The word became current in 18th-century surgery: Corominas dates it from Terreros, and his shorter dictionary to 1765–1783.^[6][10] Feijoo (1742) defended using it and other Latin terms, and Terreros (1786) complained that surgeons used Latin or Greek words where Spanish had its own, corte for amputación and cortar for amputar.^[9][11] The Academy's dictionary marked it as a surgical term in 1899.^[12]

The figurative sense, the violent removal of part of something, appears in Galdós (1878), and in 1886 an agricultural dictionary uses it for the cutting of branches from fruit and forest trees.^[4] Vox gives the cutting of parts of a film among its modern uses.^[13]

Timeline

• 1437 – El Tostado's Libro de las paradojas uses amputaçion of a limb (15th-century copy).^[9]
• 1736 – Feijoo writes of the pain in a missing foot after an amputation.^[4]
• 1742 – Feijoo defends amputación and other Latin terms.^[9]
• 1765–1783 – the date Corominas's shorter dictionary gives.^[10]
• 1786 – Terreros records it as a surgical term.^[11][6]
• 1878 – Galdós uses it figuratively.^[4]
• 1886 – an agricultural dictionary uses it for pruning trees.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act and result of amputating: the cutting off of a limb or part of the body, usually by surgery: Tras el accidente necesitó la amputación de dos dedos.^[2][13][1]
2. (figurative) The removal of part of something, as cuts from a film or a text.^[13][4]
3. (agriculture) The cutting of branches from a tree.^[4]

Related words

• amputar
• podar

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. amputación
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. amputación
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 505
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 585
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. amputación
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amputar
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía
13. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial