competencia

Forms

competencia f (plural competencias)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin competentia (“correspondence, agreement; what belongs to someone”), a learned word.^[2][1][3][4] The DLE gives it two headwords, both from this Latin noun: one for rivalry, which it compares with competir, and one for competence and jurisdiction, which it compares with competente.^[2]

The split goes back to the Latin verb competō, which meant “to come together, coincide, be suitable, belong to”, and late and rarely “to strive for something together with others”.^[5][6] Spanish took it twice, as competer “to belong, be incumbent on” and again as the verb of rivalry, “to contend”.^[7][8] Corominas notes that this distinction exists only in Castilian, already in Nebrija, and was not made at first, since 15th-century texts still use the second verb for “to belong”.^[7][8] The noun took the senses of both verbs: rivalry from the verb of contending.^[2][7] The senses “what falls to someone” and “aptitude” go with the verb of belonging and its participle, and the noun already had them in Medieval Latin.^[2][4]

The Latin noun is formed from competēns, the present participle of the verb, with -ia; the verb is con- with petō (“to make for, seek”).^[1][3] De Vaan derives the simple verb from a Proto-Indo-European verb “to fly”, the root of Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”).^[9] Wiktionary reconstructs it as Proto-Indo-European *péth₂eti.^[1] The same Latin noun is Portuguese competência, Catalan competència, French compétence and Italian competenza.^[1][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The corpus has it in the anonymous Crónica de Enrique IV (c. 1481–1482): avia gran conpetencia entre algunos de los grandes por aver el maestradgo de Santiago “there was great rivalry among some of the grandees to obtain the mastership of Santiago”.^[12] The sense “jurisdiction” follows in a letter of 1516 by Francisco Cano, mayor of Baeza, to Cardinal Cisneros: conpetençia de juridiçion “a conflict of jurisdiction”.^[12] Corominas and the BDELC date the word only from the end of the 16th century, in Fray Luis de León, Fray Luis de Granada and Hurtado de Mendoza.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades in 1729 defines it as a dispute or contest of two or more persons for the same thing, with examples of rivalry in festivities and of competencia de jurisdicciones between courts.^[13] Terreros gives “belonging, jurisdiction” first and “dispute” second; the Academy's 1843 edition has “dispute” and “belonging, incumbency”, and the phrase a competencia “vying with one another”.^[14][15] “Rivalry” is added in 1869, and “aptitude, suitability” in 1899, the first edition to give the Latin etymology.^[16][17]

Modern dictionaries add the economic sense, competition between firms in one market, and the collective la competencia “the competitors”; there is also a sense in biology.^[2][18] In most of Spanish America it also names a sports competition, where Spain prefers competición.^[19][18][1]

Timeline

• c. 1481–1482 – the Crónica de Enrique IV uses conpetencia for rivalry.^[12]
• 1516 – a letter to Cardinal Cisneros speaks of a conpetençia de juridiçion.^[12]
• late 16th century – Fray Luis de León and Fray Luis de Granada: the DCECH's first records.^[7][8]
• 1572 – Portuguese competência is first recorded.^[10]
• 1729 – Autoridades defines it as a dispute between persons for one thing.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “belonging, incumbency”.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy adds “rivalry”.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy adds “aptitude, suitability” and the Latin etymology.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (rivalry) A dispute or contest between two or more people over something.^[2]
2. (rivalry) rivalry between people who seek the same thing: Hay mucha competencia entre los aspirantes al puesto.^[2][18]
3. (rivalry, economics) competition between firms that offer or seek the same product or service in a market: La competencia hizo bajar los precios.^[2][18]
4. (rivalry) The rival firm, person or group, the competitors: Trabajó dos años para la competencia.^[2][18]
5. (rivalry, biology) The relation between organisms or species that live in one place and use the same resources.^[2]
6. (rivalry, Latin America) A sports contest or tournament.^[2][19][1]
7. (competence) incumbency, what falls to someone as their task.^[2][18]
8. (competence) competence, skill or aptitude to do something or deal with a matter: Nadie duda de su competencia como cirujana.^[2][1]
9. (competence, law) The legal sphere of powers of a public body or of a judicial or administrative authority; jurisdiction.^[2][1]

Related words

• competente
• competición
• competidor
• competir
• competitivo
• incompetencia
• incompetente
• competer
• Latin competentia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. competencia
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. competentia
4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. competentia
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. competo
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. competo
7. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 457
8. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. competir
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. peto
10. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 916
11. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. competència
12. ^ 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. competencia
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 450
14. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 473
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 178
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 191
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 247
18. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. competencia
19. ^ 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. competencia