anfiteatro

Forms

anfiteatro m (plural anfiteatros)^[1] Older spellings are amphitheatro, amphiteatro, anphiteatro and amfiteatro; the spellings with -ph- were usual until the 17th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin amphitheātrum,^[3][1][4] which is from Ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον (amphithéatron), formed of ἀμφί (amphí, “around, on both sides”) and θέατρον (théatron, “theatre”).^[4][1][5] The Greek noun for “theatre” comes from θεάομαι (theáomai, “to watch”).^[5][6] Corominas treats the word under teatro.^[5][6] Wiktionary notes that in Spanish it can also be analysed as anfi- and teatro.^[1]

The same word is Portuguese anfiteatro, Galician anfiteatro, Catalan amfiteatre, French amphithéâtre, Italian anfiteatro and Romanian amfiteatru.^[1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's Estoria de España (c. 1270, in a manuscript of the last quarter of the 13th century) records the building of the Colosseum: Est anno fizo ell emperador Tito ell amphiteatro en Roma “In this year the emperor Titus built the amphitheatre in Rome”.^[9][10][2] The sense is the Roman building for public shows.^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts use it of the Roman arena: Fernández de Heredia's translations of Orosius and Eutropius (1376–1399) tell of gladiators and of a collapsed amphitheatre, and the Ysopet (1489) of the lion in the arena.^[9][2] Alfonso de Palencia (1490) explains that a theatre is half an amphitheatre, and the Academy (1770) that the building has the shape of two theatres joined.^[9][11]

From the 17th century the name spread to halls with tiered seats: in 1625 it names the great hall of a university in the Americas, and in 1793 the anatomical theatre of Lima.^[12] Salvá (1846) lists the extended uses for parts of theatres, schools of anatomy, chemistry or botany, and cockpits, and the Academy added the tiers of seats in classrooms and theatres and the anfiteatro anatómico in 1869.^[13][14] Today it also names the upper tier of a theatre or cinema.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1270 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España tells how Titus built the amphitheatre in Rome.^[9][10]
• 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia's translation of Orosius uses amphiteatro.^[9]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario;^[12] Corominas's first record.^[5][6]
• 1547 – Pedro Mexía writes of Vespasian's amphitheatre in Rome.^[2]
• 1625 – first record from the Americas, for a university hall.^[12]
• 1770 – the Academy defines the Roman building.^[11]
• 1869 – the Academy adds tiered seating and the anfiteatro anatómico.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. amphitheatre: an oval or circular building with tiers of seats around a central arena, where the Romans held public shows such as gladiator fights.^[3][1]
2. A semicircular hall with tiered seats for teaching or cultural events.^[3][15]
3. The upper tier of seats in a theatre or cinema: Compramos entradas de anfiteatro porque eran más baratas.^[3][16]
4. anfiteatro anatómico: an anatomical theatre, a tiered room in hospitals and medical schools for teaching anatomy and surgery.^[3]

Related words

• teatro
• teoría
• Latin amphitheātrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. anfiteatro
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. anfiteatro
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 445
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. teatro
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
8. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte
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. anfiteatro
10. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024)
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra
12. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial