conversación

Forms

conversación f (plural conversaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin conversatio (“frequent dealings, social intercourse, intimacy”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is formed from conversor (“to associate with, keep company with”), from con- and versor (“to dwell, be busy”).^[5][4][1] Corominas treats it with the learned family of verter, beside conversar, which he takes from the Latin verb meaning “to live in company”.^[6][3]

The learned word is the same in Catalan conversació, Portuguese conversação, French conversation and Italian conversazione.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in the Libro de los doce sabios (c. 1237, in a copy of about 1400), in the sense “company, dealings”: fuye dellos e de su conbersaçión “flee from them and their company”.^[8][9] An astrological treatise of Alfonso X (1254) says that Venus in the ascendant makes the newborn de buena conuersacion “of good company”.^[10] Corominas dates the word only to 1438 in the Breve diccionario and to Nebrija in the DCECH.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The old senses were “company, dealings” and “dwelling”;^[11] Alonso's medieval dictionary records the modern sense, familiar talk between people, in the 15th century, in Íñigo de Mendoza.^[11] Autoridades (1729) gives three senses: familiar talk, mutual dealings, and an illicit relationship or concubinage, which it illustrates from Cervantes.^[12] The DLE now marks “company”, “sexual relations” and “dwelling” as obsolete, keeping only the act of talking.^[2]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary records the proverb la mucha conversación es causa de menosprecio “too much familiarity breeds contempt”.^[13] Moliner adds the senses of a public discussion among experts and of a person's manner of talking.^[14] In Chile, Colombia and Venezuela the short form conversa is used, as in Catalan.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1237 – the Libro de los doce sabios has conbersaçión “company” (in a copy of about 1400).^[8]
• c. 1250 – the Aragonese Vidal Mayor has conuersatión.^[8]
• 1254 – an astrological treatise of Alfonso X: de buena conuersacion.^[10]
• 1438 – the Breve diccionario's date of first record.^[3][7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin conuersatio and conuictus.^[11][6]
• 1515 – first record from the Americas in Boyd-Bowman's corpus, from Tierra Firme.^[15]
• 1729 – Autoridades defines it as familiar talk, dealings, and concubinage.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A conversation; familiar talk between two or more people: Tuvimos una conversación muy larga.^[2][1]
2. A public discussion in which experts talk about a subject.^[14]
3. A person's manner of talking: un hombre de conversación agradable.^[14]
4. (obsolete) company, gathering.^[2]
5. (obsolete) Sexual relations; concubinage.^[2][12]
6. (obsolete) A dwelling.^[2]

Related words

• conversar
• converso
• verter
• Latin conversatio

Usage notes

Common phrases are dar conversación “to keep someone talking” and dejar caer algo en la conversación “to mention something as if by chance”.^[14][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. conversación
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. verter
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 193
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. conuersor
6. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 791
7. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 169
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. conversación
9. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. conversación
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. conversación
11. ^ a b c Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 781
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2
13. ^ 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. 289
14. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. conversación
15. ^ 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. conversación