ciencia

Forms

ciencia f (plural ciencias)^[1] Old Spanish writes çiençia, sciencia and ciencia, and also siencia and esciencia; the DCECH dates esciencia to about 1310.^[2][3] Asturian has cencia.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish çiençia, borrowed from Latin scientia (“knowledge”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun comes from sciēns (“knowing, one who knows”), the present participle of sciō (“to know”), with the suffix -ia.^[3][6][1] De Vaan thinks the verb is probably a back-formation from nesciō (“not to know”) and traces it to *skh₁-i- (“to incise”), “to know” having developed from “to distinguish, decide”.^[7]

The DCECH notes that the other Spanish words of this family are learned too, such as conciencia and consciente, and also necio, from nescius (“ignorant”).^[3]

The same Latin noun was taken as Portuguese ciência and French science, which is recorded from 1080.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Semejanza del mundo of about 1223 has arte que dizen ares magica que es çiencia de naturas “the art they call magic, which is the knowledge of natures”.^[10] The DCECH's first record is Berceo, whose Vida de San Millán (c. 1230, in an 18th-century copy) says Quanto en la cïencia era más embevido, tanto en la creencia era más encendido “the more he was steeped in learning, the more he burned in faith”.^[3][10] The Breve diccionario dates it 1220–1250.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses the word for certain knowledge of things through their principles and causes, for a particular body of doctrine, as la sciencia de la astrologia, and for learning.^[11] Covarrubias in 1611 defined it as certain knowledge of a thing through its cause, and traced it to the Latin verb for “to know”.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades called the faculties of theology, philosophy, law and medicine ciencias, and recorded ciencia infusa, knowledge inspired by God as to Solomon, and cierta ciencia, full knowledge, a formula of royal grants.^[13] The formula is found in Mexico in 1532: de su proprio motu e ciencia cierta.^[14]

Salvá in 1846 recorded ciencias exactas and ciencias naturales, and the Academy's dictionary of 1884 gave the senses still found today: knowledge through principles and causes, a body of doctrine, learning, and skill in anything.^[15][16] The DLE now defines it as knowledge obtained by observation and reasoning, from which testable laws are drawn, and in the plural as the sciences opposed to letters; it also has ciencia ficción.^[5][17] Spanish lent the word to Basque, Tagalog and Ilocano.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo has çiencia de naturas.^[10]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán (in an 18th-century copy).^[10][3]
• 1220–1250 – the date the Breve diccionario gives.^[4]
• 1254–1260 – Alfonso X's prose speaks of la sciencia de la astrologia.^[11]
• c. 1310 – the variant esciencia in the Vida de San Ildefonso.^[3]
• 1492 – Nebrija renders Latin scientia as sciencia o sabiduria.^[18]
• 1532 – the first record from the Americas, ciencia cierta in Mexico City.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as certain knowledge through the cause.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records ciencia infusa and cierta ciencia.^[13]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records a ciencia y paciencia.^[19]
• 1846 – Salvá records ciencias exactas and ciencias naturales.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology and the modern senses.^[16]
• 1917 – Alemany records gaya ciencia “the art of poetry”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. science: a systematic body of knowledge obtained by observation and reasoning, from which general, testable laws are drawn.^[5][1]
2. knowledge, learning, erudition, as in ser un pozo de ciencia “to be a fount of knowledge”.^[5][17][1]
3. Skill, mastery in anything: Freír un huevo no tiene mucha ciencia.^[5]
4. (in the plural) The exact, physical, chemical and natural sciences, as opposed to letters: Mi hermana estudió ciencias.^[5][17]
5. (Cuba, masculine or feminine) A very intelligent person.^[21]

Word family

• ciencia ficción

Related words

• científico
• conciencia
• consciente
• necio
• Latin scientia
• Portuguese ciência

Usage notes

A ciencia cierta “with certainty” and a ciencia y paciencia “with someone's knowledge and consent” are old set phrases.^[20][19] Ciencia infusa is often used ironically of knowledge that someone claims without having studied.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 66
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ciencia
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ciencia
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. ciencia
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ 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. 596
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 345
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 241
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
18. ^ 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
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 200
20. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 379
21. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer