caída

Forms

caída f (plural caídas)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish caer + -ida, the suffix that makes feminine nouns of action from verbs.^[2][1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of the verb, without a date of its own.^[3][4] The verb continues Latin cadō (“to fall”).^[3][5]

Further west, the oldest participle of the verb was Old Galician-Portuguese cáedo, from Vulgar Latin *caditus.^[3] It was later replaced by Portuguese caído, but its feminine survived as a noun, caeda in the Cantigas, contracted to queda (“fall; waterfall”) in Portugal.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in Gonzalo de Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa (after 1228, in a copy of the early 14th century), where the priest prays that God may keep the people de mala caída “from an evil fall”.^[6] Berceo uses the same phrase in the Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos and the Milagros de Nuestra Señora, and in the Libro de Alexandre it is Hector's fall in combat.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, the act of falling, is the oldest;^[7] Alfonso X's Estoria de España already has it, and López de Ayala's Libro de la caza (1386) speaks of the swoop of a falcon.^[8][7] In the 15th century it also named the fault of the rebel angels and of the first man, the sense the DLE now labels religious.^[8][9] Nebrija's Latin dictionary of 1492 gives it as the equivalent of Latin casus, lapsio and ruina, and has caída de cabellos for hair loss.^[5]

The Diccionario de Autoridades separates the violent fall to the ground, the sudden loss of a person's high position, as in the fall of a royal favourite, and the gradual decline of things.^[10] The Academy's dictionary of 1899 adds the hanging parts of tapestries and curtains, an inner gallery of the houses of Manila, and two senses of the thieves' cant germanía: an affront, and what a woman earns with her body.^[11] Today the word also covers a slope, the way a cloth drapes, a defeat, a fall in prices or values, a sudden drop, and in the plural a witty remark.^[9][12]

In the Americas the phrase ir de caída “to be in decline” is recorded from 1518.^[13] Several countries use the word for an illicit payment or bribe (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia) or for a little extra given when goods are weighed (Puerto Rico); Aragon has the same sense of a small addition given as a tip.^[14][15][9] In Canarian wrestling a caída is a throw that decides a bout, recorded from 1896, and Leonese wrestling has a similar sense.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1228–1246 – Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa (in a 14th-century copy): first record, in de mala caída.^[6]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre (in a 15th-century copy) uses it for a warrior's fall.^[6]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses the word for the act of falling.^[7]
• 1386 – López de Ayala's Libro de la caza writes of the caída of a falcon.^[8]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary renders casus and ruina with it.^[5]
• 1518 – first record in the Americas, from Tierra Firme.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the figurative senses “downfall” and “decline”.^[10]
• 1896 – the sense “throw in Canarian wrestling” is recorded.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary records the hanging parts of curtains and the Manila gallery.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fall: the act or result of falling: Se rompió la muñeca en una caída.^[9][1]
2. A slope or descent, as from a hill down to a plain.^[9][12]
3. The way a cloth or garment hangs and folds; its drape.^[9][12]
4. A defeat or collapse; downfall: la caída de la dictadura.^[9][1]
5. A loss of value on the financial market.^[9]
6. A moral lapse; the abandonment of moral values.^[9][12]
7. A sudden drop in something, as in temperature or voltage.^[9][12]
8. (colloquial, mostly in the plural) A witty remark that comes naturally, without preparation.^[9]
9. (nautical) The dropping of the wind or the swell; the rake of a mast; the depth of a square sail.^[9]
10. (religion) The Fall: the sin of the rebel angels and of Adam and Eve.^[9]
11. (Aragon) A small extra amount given as a tip or present.^[9]
12. (computing) A crash of a system or network.^[1]
13. (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bolivia) An illicit payment, especially a bribe.^[14]

Word family

• paracaídas

Related words

• caer
• recaída
• decadencia
• Portuguese queda

Usage notes

Set phrases include caída de ojos, the habitual way a person lowers the eyes, and caída libre “free fall”;^[1] a la caída de la tarde means “at dusk”.^[9][1] In Canarian texts the word is also printed caida and cáida, with the stress moved to form a diphthong.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. caída
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 734
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. caer
5. ^ 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. caída
6. ^ 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. caída
7. ^ a b c 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. caída
8. ^ a b c 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. 580
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. caída
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. caída
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 172
12. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. caída
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. caída
14. ^ 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. caída
15. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. caída
16. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. caída
17. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. caída