consistencia

Forms

consistencia f (plural consistencias)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish consistente + -ncia, as the DLE and Wikcionario explain it.^[2][3][4] The adjective is from consistir, which Corominas dates to about 1400 and derives from Latin cōnsistō (“to stand still, stop; to be firm”).^[5] Latin had a noun cōnsistentia, formed from the participle of the verb.^[1] Corominas lists the noun among the derivatives of the verb without a date, and dates the adjective only to Nieremberg (died 1658), later than the first record of the noun.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is in Juan del Encina's Cancionero (1496), where a lady holds toda la consistencia de virtudes, the whole substance of the virtues.^[6][7] In the 16th century medical texts use it for the stage of a body's full growth, edad de consistencia (1551), between growth and decline.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as stability, firmness, permanence and duration.^[8] The physical sense of density or thickness entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884, beside “duration, stability, solidity”.^[4] From the 18th century the word is used of stones and pearls in the Americas (“stone of very hard consistency”, Mexico 1746).^[9] Today the DLE also gives “cohesion between the particles of a mass or the parts of a whole”, and Moliner separates the measurable physical quality from the figurative solidity of an argument or a party.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1496 – first record, in Juan del Encina's Cancionero.^[6][7]
• 1551 – edad de consistencia in Montaña de Monserrate's Anothomía.^[6]
• 1723 – first record from the Americas, in Venezuela.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as stability and permanence.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy adds “density, thickness” and derives it from consistente.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. duration, stability, solidity: un acuerdo sin consistencia.^[2][10]
2. cohesion between the particles of a mass or the parts of a whole; consistency, thickness: Batir la crema hasta que tome consistencia.^[2][10][1]

Word family

• inconsistencia

Related words

• consistir
• consistente
• consistorio
• Latin cōnsistō

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. consistencia
3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 824
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. consistencia
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos