apartamento

Forms

apartamento m (plural apartamentos)^[1]

Etymology

The Academy takes it as borrowed from Italian appartamento, which Italian had borrowed from Spanish apartamiento, with the diphthong reduced.^[2][1] The Italian word, recorded from 1538 (Paolo Giovio), goes back to the Spanish word in its old sense “secluded place”, from aparte or apartar, and was adapted to the Italian verb appartare.^[3][4][1]

The Academy's historical dictionary instead derives the dwelling sense from French appartement or English apartment, with the variant form shaped by the older Spanish word.^[5] The Tesoro of Puerto Rico likewise treats it there as an adapted anglicism.^[6] Purists of the late 19th century called it a gallicism and asked for the older Spanish word instead.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record of the dwelling sense is in José Martí, 1880, in a piece published in The Hour of New York: este apartamento amueblado de pintor mundano, “this furnished apartment of a fashionable painter”.^[5] In 1884 Miguel Cané wrote of an English student's apartamiento in the same sense.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word spread first in the Americas against strong purist criticism: in 1889 Rivodó proposed reviving apartamiento instead of the French appartement, in 1893 Ortúzar called apartamento a pest come from French, and in 1895 Zerolo blamed it on ignorance of Spanish in parts of America.^[5] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 still lists it as an Americanism of Chile for apartamiento, and Malaret in 1946 as general in the Americas (except Peru).^[8][7] The Academy's dictionary has included it since 1984, with an Italian etymology.^[6]

Today it is a dwelling in a block of flats (piso), and in Spain especially a small one; the old sense “lodging, dwelling” is marked as obsolete.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1538 – Italian appartamento recorded in Paolo Giovio.^[3]
• 1880 – first record of apartamento “flat”, in José Martí.^[5]
• 1884 – Miguel Cané uses the variant apartamiento in the same sense.^[5]
• 1893 – Ortúzar condemns apartamento as a word come from French.^[5]
• 1917 – Alemany lists it as an Americanism of Chile.^[8]
• 1932 – recorded in Puerto Rico in a novel by Ferdinand R. Cestero.^[6]
• 1984 – the word enters the Academy's dictionary, derived from Italian.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A flat or apartment, a dwelling in a building of several storeys (piso).^[2][1][9]
2. (Spain) A small flat: Alquilaron un apartamento junto a la playa.^[2]
3. (obsolete) A dwelling, lodging (habitación).^[2]

Related words

• apartamiento
• apartar
• aparte
• departamento
• Italian appartamento
• French appartement

Usage notes

An older apartamento, meaning “separation, seclusion, privacy” and formed on apartar, is recorded from about 1250 (Poridat de las poridades) and in 15th-century texts.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. apartamento
3. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli, p. s.v. appartamento
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. appartamento
5. ^ 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. apartamento
6. ^ a b c d Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. apartamento
7. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 99
8. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 143
9. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. apartamento
10. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. apartamento
11. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. apartamento