autómata

Forms

autómata m (plural autómatas)^[1]

Etymology

Corominas takes it borrowed from French automate, itself taken from Latin automaton and ultimately from the Greek adjective Ancient Greek αὐτόματος (autómatos, “acting of itself, self-moving”).^[2][3] Segura Munguía also has it come through French.^[4] The Academy instead derives it directly from the Latin plural of that word, from the Greek plural αὐτόματα (autómata, “mechanical devices”), literally “things that act of themselves”.^[5] Wiktionary takes the Latin form as a feminine.^[1] Corominas notes that a form taken straight from the classical languages would be autómato, which is the form of Urrea's 1582 translation of Vitruvius, of the Academy's dictionary of 1832 and of Portuguese.^[2]

In French the word was first an adjective, in Rabelais's Gargantua (1532), and became a noun in 1611.^[6] The Greek adjective is formed of αὐτός (autós, “self”) and a second element with the zero grade of the root of μένος (ménos, “might, spirit”).^[7] Beekes compares this element with Latin commentus, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̥tós.^[7][1] Wiktionary traces the root to *men- (“to think”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is Feijoo's Teatro crítico universal (1729), on the Cartesian doctrine of animals as machines: la opinión de las bestias maquinales, o autómatas “the opinion that beasts are machines, or automata”.^[8] The DCECH and the BDELC date it from Terreros's dictionary (1765–1783).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Feijoo also used the word as an adjective, of the self-moving statues made by Daedalus.^[8] The figurative sense of a person without a will of his own appears in the Americas from 1820 (Santo Domingo), and in Mexico and Lima in the following decades.^[9] The Academy long preferred autómato: its 1843 dictionary sends autómata to that form, and Salvá (1846) notes that autómata was the more usual one.^[10][11] The 1869 edition defines it as a machine with the principle of its motion in its own mechanism, now mostly one that imitates living beings, and colloquially as a stupid or weak person led by another.^[12] Today the term also covers programmable automatic machines and robots.^[13] In Puerto Rico it can mean a person badly addicted to drugs.^[14]

Timeline

• 1582 – Urrea's translation of Vitruvius uses the form autómato.^[2]
• 1729 – Feijoo writes of bestias maquinales, o autómatas, the first record in the CDH.^[8]
• 1765–1783 – Terreros records the word and notes that some say autómato.^[2][3]
• 1820 – first record in the Americas, at Santo Domingo, of people moving like an automaton.^[9]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary refers autómata to autómato.^[10]
• 1869 – the Academy defines the machine and the weak-willed person.^[12]
• 1899 – the Academy derives it from Greek.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A device or apparatus that contains within itself the mechanism that gives it its movements.^[5]
2. An automaton: a machine that imitates the shape and movements of a living being; masculine, less often feminine: Los autómatas del relojero asombraban a la corte.^[5][1][16]
3. A programmable automatic machine that carries out tasks on its own, a robot.^[13]
4. (figurative) A person who acts mechanically, without thinking or at another's direction: Repetía la lección como un autómata.^[5][16]

Word family

• automático
• automatismo

Related words

• automóvil
• Latin automaton
• French automate

Usage notes

In the sense of a person the word is masculine or feminine (un autómata, una autómata).^[5] The older form autómato was the Academy's headword in the 19th century.^[10][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 415
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. autómata
4. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 82
5. ^ 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. autómata
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. autómata
9. ^ 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. autómata
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 80
11. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 122
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 86
13. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. autómata
14. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. autómata
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 111
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. autómata