cédula

Forms

cédula f (plural cédulas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin schedŭla (“sheet of paper, page”), a diminutive of scheda (“sheet of paper”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes it from the Medieval Latin spelling cedula.^[1] The REW instead derives the Spanish, French and Portuguese words from Italian cedola, and Cunha derives Portuguese cédula from French cédule.^[5][6] The Latin word also gave Occitan cedula.^[7]

Aragonese texts of the 15th and 16th centuries have ceda “writing, document”, from the simple noun itself, and the Asturian form is ceula.^[2] esquela “short letter, notice” is another Spanish outcome of the same Latin family.^[8][9]

Wiktionary takes the Latin noun from Ancient Greek σχέδη (skhédē, “papyrus leaf”), related to σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”).^[1] The DHLF considers the Latin word of unknown origin and explains the spelling scida as influenced by the Greek verb and by scindō (“to split”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Ordinaciones de Barbastro of 1396, and he treats an example of 1019 in Oelschläger's list as Latin.^[2][3] The CDH antedates it: Juan Fernández de Heredia's translation of Plutarch (1379–1384) tells how the besiegers shot çedulas “notes” into the city with their arrows, urging the people to surrender.^[10][11] The CDH also has hits dated c. 1255 (the Crónica de Sahagún) and c. 1272–1283 (the Fuero de Molina), where cedula is a written answer and a section of the fuero.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The first sense is a slip or leaf of paper or parchment, written or for writing on;^[12] Alonso's dictionary also has “letter, will” in medieval charters.^[12] Nebrija (c. 1495) glosses it as a sheet or letter, Latin sceda, and the small one as scedula.^[11] In the Americas the word appears from 1537 in Mexico City, for grants of Indians in encomienda and for bills of exchange (cédula de cambio).^[13] Autoridades defines it as a written slip of paper and records cédula de cambio, already giving way to letra de cambio.^[14]

The Academy's 19th-century editions list many kinds: the cédula ante diem summoning the members of a body, the cédula de comunión given to those who had made their Easter communion, and others of finance and administration.^[15][16] Real cédula was a dispatch signed by the king granting a favour or making a ruling.^[17] Today cédula de identidad is the identity card in most of Spanish America.^[4][18]

Timeline

• c. 1255 – the earliest CDH hit, in the Crónica de Sahagún.^[10]
• 1379–1384 – Fernández de Heredia's translation of Plutarch uses çedulas for written messages.^[10]
• 1396 – Corominas's first record, in the Ordinaciones de Barbastro.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija enters cedula with Latin sceda and scedula.^[11]
• 1537 – the first records in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines the word and the phrase cédula de cambio.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin schedula.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of paper or parchment written on, or meant for writing on.^[4]
2. An official document that certifies or notifies something: cédula de habitabilidad “certificate of habitability”, cédula de citación “summons”.^[4][1]
3. A document acknowledging a debt or other obligation.^[20][21]
4. (Latin America) Short for cédula de identidad: an identity card.^[4][18][1]
5. A catalogue card, as in a library.^[17]

Word family

• cedulario

Related words

• esquela
• Latin schedula
• Portuguese cédula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 15
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cédula
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. cédula
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7681
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 775
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. cédule
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5963
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 691
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cédula
11. ^ a b c Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. cédula
12. ^ a b Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 662
13. ^ 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. cédula
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. cédula
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 192
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 165
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cédula
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cédula
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 213
20. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. cédula
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. cédula