círculo

Forms

círculo m (plural círculos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin circulus (“circle, ring”), a diminutive of circus (“circle; circus”).^[2][3][4][1] A semi-popular form cérculo is found in Alfonso X's astronomical books.^[2][5] The inherited word from the base is cerco, and circo is a later learned doublet of that word.^[2][3]

The Latin word was inherited as French cercle, Catalan cercle (beside the more conservative cèrcol) and Italian cerchio.^[6][7][1] Beside them, Portuguese círculo, Asturian círculu and circolo keep the Latin form.^[8][9][1]

De Vaan takes the Latin base as probably a loan from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos, “ring”), also κίρκος (kírkos), itself of uncertain origin.^[10] Wiktionary connects the Greek word with Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is the Semejanza del mundo, in a Madrid manuscript that the DEMel dates 1223–1300: esta enel primero çirculo “it is in the first circle”.^[11][12] The Alfonsine astronomical works of 1254–1277 use cerculo for the circles of the heavens and circulo for a circle cut in a piece of wood.^[5] Corominas dates the learned form to Alfonso de Palencia (1490), and the BDELC to 1444.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first uses are astronomical and geometrical.^[5] A ring of people gathered to talk or watch was an old sense;^[13] Baralt (1855) objected that the sense “social gathering” was being taken from French.^[13] The DLE now has the senses “club or society” and the premises where it meets, “a closed group of people”, and in the plural “social or professional circles”.^[4] In Peru and the Río de la Plata it meant a political party and a political or social gathering, and in Mexico a faction.^[14][15] In Cuba a círculo is a day nursery.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo, in a manuscript of 1223–1300, has çirculo.^[11][12]
• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas has the semi-popular cerculo.^[11]
• 1277 – Alfonso X's astronomical books use circulo and cerculo.^[5]
• 1444 – the BDELC's first date.^[3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary has it.^[17]
• 1515 – the first record from the Americas, in Tierra Firme: the circle of the Sun.^[18]
• 1855 – Baralt condemns the sense “social gathering” as a Gallicism.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) A circle: the flat area inside a circunferencia.^[4][1]
2. The curve itself, the circumference.^[4]
3. Anything round in shape: Los niños se sentaron en círculo.^[4]
4. A ring of people; a circuit.^[4]
5. A club or society for recreation or culture, and the building where its members meet.^[4]
6. A small group of people joined for a purpose; in the plural, social or professional circles: en los círculos financieros.^[4]
7. (Cuba) A day nursery.^[16]

Word family

• semicírculo

Related words

• cerco
• circo
• circular
• Latin circus

Usage notes

Círculo vicioso is “vicious circle”; the DLE also lists technical phrases such as círculo de declinación in astronomy and círculo acimutal in navigation.^[4][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 42
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cerco
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. círculo
5. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. círculo
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ 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. 2, 676
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 845
9. ^ a b Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. círculu
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ 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. círculo
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. círculo
13. ^ a b c Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 144
14. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 238
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 246
16. ^ 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. círculo
17. ^ 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. círculo
18. ^ 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. círculo