atento

Forms

atento (feminine atenta, masculine plural atentos, feminine plural atentas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin attentus (“attentive, intent”), the past participle of attendō (“to stretch towards; direct the mind to”).^[2][3][4][1] The verb is formed from ad- and tendō (“to stretch”), and gave Spanish atender.^[2][1] Corominas notes a variant atiento.^[2]

The word is Portuguese atento, Catalan atent and Italian attento.^[5][6][1] The same participle, with a suffix, gave French attentif.^[7] Nascentes calls the Portuguese word semi-learned.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Spanish Textual Archive has its first instances in three texts of 1376, and the DEMel cites López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio (c. 1385).^[9][10] The Breve diccionario dates it 1438.^[3] The DCECH's first record is Alfonso de Palencia (1490), and its adverbial use is from Juan de Mena.^[2] The sense is “paying attention”: Nebrija glosses it as attentive in body or mind, Latin attentus.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 defines it as one who is careful in listening or watching.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades adds the sense “respectful, courteous”, and an adverbial use, atento a lo qual “in view of which”, which belongs to the language of documents.^[13] That use is already in the Americas in 1526, in Cuba: atento los pocos indios que en esta isla hay “given the few Indians there are on this island”.^[14] From 1843 to 1917 the Academy and Alemany also listed atento as the irregular past participle of atender.^[15][16][17] Cuervo documents its construction with a for the object of attention, as in Cervantes.^[18]

In Andalusia atento means “about, concerning”, and in Cantabria “with regard to”.^[19][20]

Timeline

• 1376 – first instances in the Old Spanish Textual Archive.^[9]
• c. 1385 – López de Ayala's Rimado de Palacio, cited by the DEMel.^[10]
• 1438 – the Breve diccionario's date.^[3]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia, the first record in the DCECH.^[2]
• 1526 – first record in the Americas, in Cuba, in the use “in view of”.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias: one who is careful in listening or watching.^[12]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds “courteous” and the adverbial use.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin attentus.^[21]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Attentive: with the attention fixed on something: Los niños escuchaban atentos al narrador.^[4][1]
2. Courteous, polite, considerate: Siempre fue muy atento con sus vecinos.^[4][1][22]
3. atento a (rare) In view of, considering.^[4]

Word family

• atentamente
• inatento
• desatento

Related words

• atención
• atender
• tender
• Latin attentus

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. 5, 459
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tender
4. ^ 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. atento
5. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. atento
6. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. atent
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. attentif
8. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. atento
9. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. atento
10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. atento
11. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 298
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 238
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 465
14. ^ 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. atento
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 77
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 106
17. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 191
18. ^ Cuervo, Rufino José (1886–1893), Diccionario de construcción y régimen de la lengua castellana, vols. I–II (A–D), París: A. Roger y F. Chernoviz, p. 1, 743
19. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 66
20. ^ García-Lomas, G. Adriano (1922), Estudio del dialecto popular montañés: fonética, etimologías y glosario de voces, San Sebastián: Nueva Editorial, p. 73
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 115
22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. atento