consiguiente

Forms

consiguiente m or f (masculine and feminine plural consiguientes)^[1] Old Spanish texts of the 15th century also write conseguiente, consyguiente and conssiguiente;^[2] Nebrija has both consiguiente and conseguiente.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cōnsequēns (“following; consistent”), the present participle of cōnsequor (“to follow, overtake”).^[4][1][5] Wiktionary notes that it is now used as a learned word, and that consecuente is its learned doublet.^[1] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of conseguir, the verb that continues the same Latin verb.^[3] The Academy's dictionaries of 1884 and 1899 derived it from the doublet instead.^[6][7]

The Latin verb is a compound of sequor (“to follow”), which goes back to *sekʷ- (“to follow, accompany”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Castigos (1293), already in the phrase por consiguiente: vido que todo era mucho bueno E por consiguiente la muger fecha por nuestro señor dios era mucho buena “he saw that everything was very good, and consequently the woman made by our Lord God was very good”.^[2] DEMel lists an earlier record in Alfonso X's Siete Partidas (1256–1265).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Most early records are the phrase por consiguiente “consequently”, frequent in 15th-century medical, legal and courtly prose.^[2] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined the adjective as what follows from and depends on something else, and recorded ir, proceder o ser consiguiente “to act consistently, keep to one's course”, with a quotation from Nieremberg.^[10] The Academy's 1817 edition added the noun of logic, the second proposition of an enthymeme.^[11]

In the 19th century Salvá and Domínguez judged por el consiguiente vulgar or little used beside por consiguiente.^[12][13] The sense “consistent” said of a person is now marked obsolete, and consecuente has taken its place.^[4] The phrase por lo consiguiente is recorded in Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela and Uruguay.^[14]

Timeline

• 1256–1265 – DEMel's first record, in the Siete Partidas.^[9]
• 1293 – por consiguiente in the Castigos.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives conseguiente cosa with Latin consequens.^[15][3]
• 1544 – the first record from the Americas, por el consiguiente in Paraguay.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the adjective and the phrase ir consiguiente.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the noun of logic.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy calls por consiguiente an illative conjunction.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. consequent, resulting: that follows from or is deduced from something else: Cortaron la carretera, con el consiguiente retraso de los autobuses.^[4][17][1]
2. (obsolete) Of a person: consistent, acting in line with his or her principles.^[4]

Noun

1. (philosophy) The proposition that cannot be denied once the premises are granted.^[4]
2. (grammar) The second term of a grammatical relation; consecuente.^[4]

Word family

• consiguientemente
• por consiguiente

Related words

• consecuente
• conseguir
• seguir
• Latin cōnsequēns

Usage notes

Por consiguiente and the older por el consiguiente mean “therefore, consequently”;^[4][17] de consiguiente has the same meaning.^[4][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. consiguiente
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 191
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. consiguiente
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ 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. 280
7. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 259
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. consiguiente
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 529
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 230
12. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 283
13. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 446
14. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. consiguiente
15. ^ 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. consiguiente
16. ^ 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. consiguiente
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos