contemplación

Forms

contemplación f (plural contemplaciones)^[1] Old Spanish wrote it contenplaçion or contemplaçion.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish contemplaçion, borrowed from Latin contemplātiō (“a looking at; consideration”).^[3][1][4] The noun is older in Spanish than the verb contemplar, which Corominas dates only to 1403, so it was taken from Latin directly.^[5][4]

The Latin noun is formed from contemplor (“to look at attentively”) and -tiō.^[6][1] The verb is formed from con- and templum (“temple; space marked out for taking auspices”).^[1] De Vaan derives the noun from Proto-Indo-European *t(e)mp-lo-, probably from a root *temp- (“to stretch”), so that the first sense would have been “stretching”, then “measuring”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates it to Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora.^[5][4] There a nun stays in her contemplación praising the Virgin, until she is called away: Bien fincarié la duenna en su contemplación, laudando la Gloriosa, faziendo oración “the lady would gladly have stayed in her contemplation, praising the Glorious One, praying”.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old Spanish the word was religious: devout meditation and prayer, and Juan Manuel ties it to the vida contemplativa.^[2] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the soul's intent gaze on an object, as a degree of mystical prayer, and as “deference, regard”, in the phrases a contemplación de or en contemplación de someone, doing a thing to please him.^[9] That sense is recorded in Santo Domingo as early as 1517.^[10] Corominas notes that this sense of deference developed in the noun and the verb in the 17th century and became frequent in the 19th.^[5] In the plural contemplaciones now means excessive considerateness, as in tratar a alguien sin contemplaciones.^[3][11]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record, in Berceo's Milagros de Nuestra Señora.^[4][5]
• 1293 – contenplaçion de gozos çelestiales in the Castigos.^[2]
• 1327–1332 – Juan Manuel's Libro de los estados joins it to the contemplative life.^[2]
• 1403 – first record of the verb contemplar.^[5]
• 1517 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo, in the sense “regard for someone”.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the mystical sense and the phrase a contemplación de.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of contemplating (contemplar); attentive looking or contemplation: la contemplación del mar.^[3][1][11]
2. (religion) The state of the soul absorbed in God; a degree of mystical prayer.^[11][12]
3. consideration, regard or attention shown to someone.^[3]
4. (in the plural) Excessive considerateness (miramientos) that keeps one from acting: Le dijo la verdad sin contemplaciones.^[3][11]

Word family

• contemplativo

Related words

• contemplar
• templo
• Latin contemplātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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
3. ^ a b c d e 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. contemplación
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. contemplar
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 181
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. contemplación
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. contemplación
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
12. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. contemplación