centinela

Forms

centinela m (plural centinelas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian sentinella (“watch, sentry duty; sentry”), first recorded around 1530.^[2][3][4][1] The Spanish ⟨c⟩ renders the convex, predorsal Italian /s/.^[2]

The Italian word, recorded from 1518–1525, is derived from sentire (“to hear, perceive”), from Latin sentiō, but the details of the formation are unclear.^[2][5][4] Alessio derives it from the old Italian word sentina (“shrewdness”), from Late Latin sentinare (“to avoid danger cleverly”), and Nocentini traces that verb to Sentinus, the god who gave newborn children their senses.^[2][6] Corominas notes Prati's corrections to Alessio, and compares Spitzer's material, such as gherminella (“sleight of hand”) from ghermire (“to seize”).^[2] French sentinelle is also from Italian.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Juan de Oznayo's account of the battle of Pavia, about 1530, followed by Garcilaso (died 1536).^[2] The first sense was abstract, the watch itself: Garcilaso writes haciendo la noturna centinela “keeping the night watch”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

As a name for the soldier who keeps the watch, the word was at first feminine, like guarda and escucha, and remained so as late as Cervantes and even Larra.^[2] Around 1570 Diego Hurtado de Mendoza still called it a new, foreign word, and wrote that the older Spaniards had said atalaya for a lookout by day and escucha by night.^[2][8] Covarrubias in 1611 derived it either from Latin scintillare or from sentir, and cited an old song addressed to a velador, the older Castilian word for a night guard.^[9]

Autoridades defined it as a feminine military term, and by extension a person who watches something.^[10] The Academy added in 1817 that it was also used as masculine, and in 1899 it gave it both genders and the etymology from Italian sentinella.^[11][12] Salvá in 1846 preferred the masculine when one soldier is meant.^[13] In Bolivia the word names a large river pier or landing stage.^[14]

Timeline

• after 1525 – Andrés de Tapia's account of the conquest of Mexico: El marqués hizo poner sus centinelas.^[7]
• c. 1530 – Corominas's first record, in Juan de Oznayo.^[2][3]
• 1526–1536 – Garcilaso uses it for the night watch.^[2][7]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[15]
• c. 1570 – Hurtado de Mendoza calls it a new and foreign word.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records it with two etymologies.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades lists it as a feminine military term.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy gives both genders and the Italian etymology.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) Watch, guard duty: vigilancia.^[4]
2. (military) A sentry, sentinel: a soldier who guards the post entrusted to him or her: Dos centinelas guardaban la puerta del cuartel.^[4][1]
3. A person who keeps watch on something.^[4][10]
4. (Bolivia) A large pier or landing stage on a river.^[14]

Related words

• sentir
• Italian sentinella
• French sentinelle

Usage notes

Centinela is masculine and feminine in the DLE;^[4][1] Wiktionary gives it as masculine.^[4][1] Phrases include estar de centinela and hacer centinela “to stand guard”, and the rare centinela de vista, a guard who keeps a prisoner in sight.^[16][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 33
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. centinela
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. centinela
5. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ 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. centinela
8. ^ Cabrera, Ramón (1837), Diccionario de etimologías de la lengua castellana, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta de Marcos Bueno, p. s.v. centinela
9. ^ 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. 582
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 271
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 195
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 217
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 237
14. ^ a b Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 232
15. ^ 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. centinela
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 168