amputar

Forms

amputar (first-person singular present amputo, first-person singular preterite amputé, past participle amputado)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin amputō (“to cut off, prune”), a learned word.^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed from ambi- (“around, on both sides”) and putō (“to prune, clean”), so that it first meant to prune all round.^[4][5][6] The same verb, inherited, is podar “to prune”, recorded in Spanish since 1235.^[7][8]

According to de Vaan, the adjective putus (“pure, genuine”) is the base of the family and the verb its derivative; he reconstructs *puto- (“cut off, clean”) and *pHu-tó-.^[9] Wiktionary calls the deeper origin of the adjective uncertain.^[1] The same Latin family includes computāre and disputāre, the source of disputar.^[9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first example in the CDH is in Enrique de Villena's translation and glosses of the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442), with a figurative sense, to cut away or do away with: aunque non puede amputar las encubiertas de la rapaçidat “although it cannot cut away the hidden [snares] of greed”.^[10][11] Corominas dated the word only from the 19th century, 1817 or 1832.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Before the 19th century the word was rare and learned.^[10] It turns up in Latin–Spanish glossaries such as Nebrija's, where Latin amputo is glossed “to cut round”.^[10] In the legal Spanish of Aragon it meant to remove, suppress and to audit or close accounts: the acts of the Aragonese Cortes of 1518–1519 tell auditors to ver, reconocer y examinar & amputar todas las cuentas.^[12] The Academy took both senses from these Aragonese texts into the Autoridades in 1726 as old words of Aragon.^[13] The TDHLE suspects that the accounts sense may come from an error in the transmission of those texts.^[12]

The surgical sense, to cut off a limb, is the one the Academy gives from 1817; in 1869 it carries the label of surgery.^[14][15] Pharmaceutical writing of 1807 already speaks of miembros amputados “amputated limbs”.^[10] Alemany added the figurative use “to suppress, remove” in 1917, and the DLE still notes it.^[16][3] Moliner applies it to cutting something necessary out of a book or treatise.^[17]

Timeline

• 1427–1428 – Enrique de Villena uses amputar figuratively in his glosses of the Aeneid (copy of 1442).^[10][11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin vocabulary glosses Latin amputo as “to cut round”.^[10]
• 1518–1519 – the acts of the Aragonese Cortes use the verb for examining and settling accounts.^[12]
• 1528 – the Fueros of Aragon use amputando for doing away with superfluous delays.^[12][13]
• 1726 – the Autoridades records both senses as old words of Aragon.^[13]
• 1807 – a pharmacopoeia commentary speaks of amputated limbs.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy defines the verb as cutting off a limb;^[14] Corominas's dates for the word are 1817 and 1832.^[14][8][2]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin amputare, explained as “cut around”.^[18]
• 1917 – Alemany records the figurative sense “to suppress, remove”.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, surgery) To amputate: to cut off a limb or part of one and separate it completely from the body: Tras el accidente hubo que amputarle la mano.^[3][17][1]
2. (transitive, figurative) To cut out or suppress a part of something, such as a passage of a text.^[3][17]

Word family

• amputación

Related words

• podar
• disputar
• Latin amputō

Usage notes

In old Aragonese legal language amputar meant “to remove, suppress” and “to settle accounts”;^[19] Borao still lists it as an Aragonese word for “to suppress, take away”.^[12][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amputar
3. ^ 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. amputar
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 61
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. amputar
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 585
8. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. podar
9. ^ a b 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 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. amputar
11. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. amputar
12. ^ 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. amputar
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 277
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 61
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 48
16. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 113
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. amputar
18. ^ 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
19. ^ a b Borao, Jerónimo (1908), Diccionario de voces aragonesas, 2nd ed., Zaragoza: Imprenta del Hospicio Provincial, p. 156