centro

Forms

centro m (plural centros)^[1] The Alfonsine texts also spell it cenptro and çenptro.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin centrum (“fixed point of a pair of compasses; centre”), which Latin took from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “sting, goad; centre”).^[4][5][6][1] The change of meaning went through the Latin sense “the fixed leg of a pair of compasses, round which the other turns”, which was compared to a sting; from there the word came to mean the point where that leg is set.^[4][7]

The Greek noun is formed from κεντέω (kentéō, “to sting, goad”) with the instrument suffix -τρον (-tron).^[1] Beekes sets up a root κεντ- (kent-) for the verb, and Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ḱent- (“to prick”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Alfonsine Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260), an astrological text: parte aquel logar de su centro troa su fin en .xij. partes eguales “divide that place from its centre to its end into 12 equal parts”.^[3] Corominas dates the first record to Alfonso X's Libros del saber de astronomía (1256–1276).^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's scientific prose it is the centre of a circle, of a sphere and of a polygon.^[2] Nebrija about 1495 glossed it as the point in the middle.^[9] Covarrubias in 1611 explained the centre of the world as the point in the middle of the earth, farthest from heaven and so given to the devil.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades in 1729 also gives “the deepest, most hidden part”, with the infernales centros of the Celestina, and a sense in fencing.^[11] In Cervantes someone está en su centro when he is in his element.^[12]

Baralt in 1855 rejected centro for a meeting place or association as a French sense; it is now a standard sense, as are the political centre and the centre of a town.^[13][6] In Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic a centro is a place for spiritist meetings.^[14][15][16] The word has named several garments in the Americas: an underskirt in Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia, trousers and waistcoat or the waistcoat alone in Mexico and Honduras.^{[17][18][19][6]}

Timeline

• 1254–1260 – first record, in the Judizios de las estrellas.^[3]
• 1256–1276 – the Libros del saber de astronomía, Corominas's first record.^[4]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it as the point in the middle.^[9]
• 1587 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the centre of the world.^[10]
• 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses in geometry, “deepest part” and fencing.^[11]
• 1855 – Baralt rejects centro for an association as a Gallicism.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. centre: the inner point taken to be at the same distance from the limits of a line, surface or body.^[6][1]
2. A place from which information or decisions go out, or to which they come.^[6]
3. A place where the members of a society usually meet; a club.^[6]
4. (politics) The tendency or group between the right and the left.^[6][1]
5. A government office; an institute for study or research.^[6]
6. The core of a town or district; its busiest streets, downtown: Quedamos en el centro.^[6][1]
7. The place where someone or something is naturally at home.^[6]
8. A place where an activity is most intense: un centro minero.^[6]
9. The main aim or object of interest.^[6]
10. (Ecuador, Bolivia) A traditional baize skirt worn by women.^[6][14]
11. (fencing) The point where the body's strength lies, given its position.^[6][11]

Word family

• centrar
• céntrico
• descentrado
• centrismo
• centrista

Related words

• central
• Latin centrum

Usage notes

The DLE lists separately a centro of football and other sports, the act of centring the ball, a cross.^[6][1] Centro comercial is a shopping centre.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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. centro
3. ^ 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. centro
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 36
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. centro
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. centro
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 324
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 272
12. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 268
13. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 142
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. centro
15. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. centro
16. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. centro
17. ^ Pichardo, Esteban (1875), Diccionario provincial casi-razonado de vozes y frases cubanas, 4th ed., La Habana: Imprenta El Trabajo, p. 85
18. ^ García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. centro
19. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 233
20. ^ 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. centro