arce

Forms

arce m (plural arces)^[1] The older form azre was widespread in the 15th and 16th centuries (Alonso de Palencia, Nebrija, Suárez de Peralta in 1564); Sigüenza wrote ácere in 1600.^[2] With the s of the plural article run on, a variant sácere entered the Academy's dictionary in 1914.^[2]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Old Spanish azre, inherited from Latin acer (“maple”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin oblique form first lost its middle vowel, and the Old Spanish form became arze when the two consonants changed places.^[2][1] The Aragonese acirón of Aragon and the Catalan auró come instead from a derivative Vulgar Latin *acerone.^[2][5]

The same Latin word is Italian acero, while French érable comes from the Medieval Latin compound acerabulus.^[6][7][1]

The Latin word reflects Proto-Italic *ak-er- and is related to Old High German ahorn (“maple”); de Vaan adds the Greek tree names Ancient Greek ἄκαστος (ákastos, “maple”) and ἄκαρνα (ákarna, “laurel”), from Hesychius, and thinks it may be a tree name borrowed into Greek and Latin from a non-Indo-European language.^[8][9] Gómez de Silva links it, with doubt, to the Latin adjective ācer (“sharp”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is arze in G. de Segovia in 1475; the older azre is found in Alonso de Palencia (1490) and Nebrija.^[2][3] The Academy's 1770 dictionary quotes Casas's translation of Solinus, where the incense tree has branches like those of the arce.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the tree and its hard wood, often spotted with marks like eyes, as the Academy has described it since 1869.^[12][4] The learned derivative aceríneo dates from 1876.^[2] Gaspar y Roig in 1853 described the sugar maple of North America and the syrup and sugar made from its sap.^[13]

Timeline

• 1475 – arze in G. de Segovia, the first record.^[2][3]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia uses the older form azre.^[2]
• 1600 – Sigüenza writes ácere.^[2]
• 1770 – the Academy's dictionary enters arce as the same tree as azre.^[11]
• 1876 – the learned derivative aceríneo is first recorded.^[2]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin acer.^[14]
• 1914 – the variant sácere enters the Academy's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. maple: a tree of the genus Acer, with very hard wood often marked with eye-like spots, opposite branches, lobed leaves, small flowers in clusters and a fruit of two joined samaras: En otoño las hojas del arce se vuelven rojas.^[4][1]
2. The wood of this tree, used in cabinetmaking.^[15]

Word family

• aceríneo

Related words

• Latin acer
• Aragonese acirón

Usage notes

The DLE has a second, obsolete arce meaning arcén “verge, edge of a road”, from Latin arger, an archaic and popular variant of agger (“earthwork, rampart”);^[4][1][16] Wiktionary glosses it as the shoulder of a road.^[4][1][16] The Diccionario de Autoridades recorded arce as a field fortification like a trench, quoting Mariana, and traced it to Latin arx (“citadel”).^[17] Arce is also a surname taken from place names in Cantabria, Navarre and Burgos.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 315
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. arce
4. ^ 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. arce
5. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 1, 496
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 91
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 79
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 309
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 66
13. ^ 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, 211
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 93
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. arce
16. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 377