civilidad

Forms

civilidad f (plural civilidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cīvīlitās.^[2][1] The Latin noun is formed from cīvīlis (“civic, civil, courteous”) with the suffix -tās, and meant the science of politics and the unassuming behaviour of a citizen, later also courtesy.^[1][3][4] Corominas lists it among the learned derivatives of civil, beside civilizar and incivil.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is Juan Fernández de Heredia's Aragonese translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives (1379–1384): Tal ciujlidat ordeno en Sicilia “such civil order he established in Sicily”.^[7] Corominas dated it from 1457, Sánchez de Arévalo's Vergel de los príncipes; the BDELC and Segura give 1495, Nebrija.^[6][5][8] DICCA-XV has it from 1417.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word meant civil order and good government, as in Pérez de Guzmán's praise of ancient Rome, which usava de grant poliçía e çivilidad.^[7] Nebrija in 1495 equated it with policía and gave Latin civilitas and Greek-derived politia.^[9] Autoridades (1729) defined it as sociability and good manners, with Villena and the chronicle of John II as examples.^[10]

It also had an opposite, pejorative sense, “meanness, stinginess, baseness”, which Autoridades illustrates from Quevedo and Calderón.^[10] Corominas discusses Old Spanish civil “base, vile” and acivilar “to debase” in the same article.^[6] The Academy marked that sense as antiquated by 1899, and the DLE now gives it as obsolete.^[11][2] Moliner gives today's senses as civic spirit and kindness.^[12]

Timeline

• 1379–1384 – Fernández de Heredia's translation of Plutarch: ciujlidat.^[7]
• 1417 – DICCA-XV's first date.^[9]
• 1457 – Sánchez de Arévalo's Vergel de los príncipes, Corominas's first record.^[6][7]
• 1495 – Nebrija: civilidad o policía.^[9][5]
• 1723 – first record in the Americas, in Venezuela, in the pejorative sense.^[13]
• 1729 – Autoridades gives both “sociability” and “meanness”.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary marks “meanness, vileness” as antiquated.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. civility: sociability, courtesy (urbanidad); respect for one's duties as a citizen and for others: Discutieron con civilidad a pesar de sus diferencias.^[2][1][12]
2. (obsolete) Meanness, stinginess; vulgarity.^[2][10]

Related words

• civil
• civismo
• ciudad
• Latin civilitas

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. civilidad
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. civil
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 94
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. civilidad
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 123
9. ^ a b c d 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. civilidad
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 364
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 229
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. civilidad
13. ^ 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. civilidad