ciudadela

Forms

ciudadela f (plural ciudadelas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian cittadella (“citadel”), adapted to ciudad.^[2][3][4][1] The Italian word is first recorded in 1306, a diminutive of the old Italian form cittade, from Latin cīvitās (“citizenship; city”).^[5] Wiktionary calls the Spanish word a calque of the Italian modelled on the Spanish word for the city.^[1] French citadelle (1495) and the forms of the other Romance languages also come from Italian.^[2] The Diccionario de Autoridades of 1729 thought the Spanish word was taken from French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in Francisco Sánchez's letters from Naples of 1502–1503, about the castles under siege: ya están para combatir la cibdadela “they are now ready to attack the citadel”.^[7] Corominas cites it from Andrés Bernáldez, who died in 1513, and dates it about 1500.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to the Italian Wars and the fortification of the 16th century: Alonso de Santa Cruz about 1550 and Jerónimo de Urrea in 1566 use it for the citadels of besieged towns.^[7] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a small fortress with four or five bastions and a moat, built to hold a town in obedience and to defend it.^[6] The Academy added the Italian etymology in 1884.^[8]

In Cuba ciudadela became a tenement house of small rooms rented to poor families round a shared patio, and in the Canary Islands a single-storey house shared by several families;^{[9][10][11][12]} Millares explained it as a “town in miniature”.^{[9][10][11][12]} In Ecuador it also means a town or village.^[13]

Timeline

• 1306 – Italian cittadella is first recorded.^[5]
• 1502–1503 – Francisco Sánchez's letters from Naples, spelt cibdadela.^[7]
• c. 1500 – Andrés Bernáldez († 1513).^[2][3]
• 1651 – first record in the Americas, in Costa Rica.^[14]
• 1729 – the Diccionario de Autoridades calls it a French word.^[6]
• 1879 – the Canarian sense “tenement house”.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Italian etymology.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. citadel, a permanent fortification inside a fortified town that commands it and serves as the last refuge of its garrison: Los defensores se retiraron a la ciudadela.^[4][1]
2. (Cuba) A tenement of small rooms around a common patio, let to poor families.^[10][9]
3. (Canary Islands) A single-storey house shared by several families, with rooms along an open central passage.^[12][15]
4. (Ecuador) A town or village.^[13]

Related words

• ciudad
• Italian cittadella
• French citadelle

Usage notes

Ciudadela is also the Spanish name of the town of Ciutadella in Menorca.^[16][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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, 93
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ciudad
4. ^ a b 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. ciudadela
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier, p. s.v. città
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
7. ^ 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. ciudadela
8. ^ 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. 246
9. ^ a b c Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 356
10. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
11. ^ a b Millares Cubas, Luis; Millares Cubas, Agustín (1922), Cómo hablan los canarios: refundición del Léxico de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, p. 37
12. ^ a b c d 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. ciudadela
13. ^ 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. ciudadela
14. ^ 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. ciudadela
15. ^ Maffiotte, Luis (1993), Los canarismos (manuscript c. 1887), ed. Lothar Siemens Hernández, Las Palmas: Instituto de Estudios Canarios, p. 53
16. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 571