antagonista

Forms

antagonista m or f (masculine and feminine plural antagonistas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin antagonista (“adversary, opponent”), from Ancient Greek ἀνταγωνιστής (antagōnistḗs, “opponent, competitor, rival”).^[2][3][4][1] The Greek noun is formed from ἀνταγωνίζομαι (antagōnízomai, “to struggle against”) with the agent suffix -τής (-tḗs).^[1] It combines ἀντί (antí, “against”) and ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “combatant, contestant”), the word for a competitor in an ἀγών (agṓn, “contest”).^[1][5][2] Greek used it from Xenophon and Euripides on for a rival in war, love or debate.^[6] In Latin it is recorded in Saint Jerome's life of Hilarion.^[7][8]

Corominas treats it with agonía and agonizar, words of the same Greek family, and gives antagonismo and antagónico as its derivatives.^[2][3] Vox dates the borrowing to the 17th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated example in the TDHLE is from José Pellicer's Argenis (1626, part 2): one of the pirates preferred to trust his life to the sea rather than esperimentar los filos del azero de tan valiente Antagonista “try the edge of the steel of so valiant an opponent”.^[10][11] Corominas dates the word from Pantaleón de Ribera (died 1629), about 1625.^[2][3] In Ribera's poem the word is used of the contestants in a contest: Todo Antagonista, todo / Opositor esté alerta “let every competitor, every rival be on the alert”.^[10] The CDH's earlier hit of 1490 is a Latin headword in Alfonso de Palencia's Latin–Spanish vocabulary.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word meant a rival or opponent in a fight or contest, often in learned prose such as Gracián's.^[10][12] The Autoridades (1726) defined it so, called it a Greek word, and added the medical sense of muscles that have opposite functions, like those that raise and lower the eyes.^[11] The Academy's 1770 edition entered músculo antagonista with a quotation from an anatomy book.^[13] Gaspar y Roig (1853) treat it also as an adjective, of anything opposed to another.^[14] The Academy made it a noun of common gender in 1899, with the Greek etymology.^[15]

Today the DLE adds a sense in biochemistry, a compound that reduces the activity of another, and one in literature, the character who opposes the protagonist.^[4][16] American examples begin in Lima in 1793.^[17]

Timeline

• 1626 – Pellicer's Argenis uses antagonista for an opponent in a fight.^[10]
• before 1629 – Pantaleón de Ribera uses it for the contestants in a contest.^[10][2]
• 1640 – Gracián writes of Charles V, Francis I and Suleiman as each other's antagonistas.^[10]
• 1726 – the Autoridades records the general sense and the anatomical sense of muscles.^[11]
• 1770 – the Academy enters músculo antagonista.^[13]
• 1793 – first record in the Americas, at Lima.^[17]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the Greek etymology and makes it a noun of common gender.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Opposing or working against the action of something; antagonistic (antagónico): dos partidos antagonistas.^[4][1]
2. (biochemistry) Of a compound: able to reduce the activity of another, such as a hormone, an enzyme or a drug.^[4][16]
3. (physiology) Of a muscle: acting against another muscle of the same region.^[4][11]

Noun

1. An antagonist, adversary: a person or thing opposed to another: Venció a su antagonista en la final.^[4][1]
2. (literature) The character who opposes the protagonist (protagonista) in the central conflict of a work of fiction.^[4][18]

Related words

• antagónico
• antagonismo
• agonía
• agonizar
• Latin antagonista

Usage notes

As a noun it is masculine or feminine according to the person (el antagonista, la antagonista); used of a muscle or a drug it is masculine.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 73
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agonía
4. ^ 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. antagonista
5. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 130
6. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 333
9. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. antagonista
10. ^ 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. antagonista
11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 303
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. antagonista
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 252
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, 170
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 70
16. ^ 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. antagonista
17. ^ 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. antagonista
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. antagonista