decoración

Forms

decoración f (plural decoraciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin decorātiō (“ornament”).^[2] DICCA-XV treats it instead as a Spanish derivative of decorar, and the Breve diccionario lists it among the derivatives of that verb.^[3][4]

The Latin noun is formed from decorō (“to adorn”) with the suffix -tiō.^[1] Du Cange finds it in Saint Augustine, and Niermeyer records it in Medieval Latin as “ornament”.^[5][6] The verb comes from decus (“ornament, honour”), which the OLD derives from deceō (“to be fitting”).^[7][8] Compare Portuguese decoração, recorded from the 19th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Enrique de Villena's Arte cisoria (1423), where the arts are said to bring benefit and decoraçión, adornment, to civil life.^[9][3] Corominas dates the word only to 1705.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th-century medical translations decoración was the branch of medicine concerned with beauty: a translation of Lanfranc's surgery (c. 1451–1475) has a treatise de decoraçión, and López de Villalobos (1498) explains it as the part of medicine that deals with beauty.^[9] A theatre stage direction Decoración de sala appears in Bances Candamo (c. 1687).^[9] Terreros in 1786 defines it as the ornament of churches and public places.^[10] Today the word also names the art of interior decoration and the scenery of a play or film.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1423 – Enrique de Villena's Arte cisoria has decoraçión.^[9]
• c. 1451–1475 – the translation of Lanfranc's surgery has a treatise on decoraçión.^[9]
• c. 1687 – Bances Candamo uses it for stage scenery.^[9]
• 1705 – Corominas's date for the word.^[4]
• 1786 – Terreros defines it as the adornment of churches and public places.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. decoration: the act and result of decorating.^[2][1]
2. The set of things that decorate a place: Cambiaron toda la decoración del salón.^[2][11]
3. The art of combining ornaments and arranging interior space.^[2][11]
4. (theatre, cinema) The scenery or set; decorado.^[2][11]

Related words

• decorar
• decorado
• decoro
• condecoración
• Latin decus

Usage notes

A separate, rare decoración means learning or reciting by heart; it belongs to decorar in the sense “to learn by heart”, from de coro “by heart”.^[2][12][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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. decoración
3. ^ a b 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. decoración
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. decente
5. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. decoratio
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. decoratio
7. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1092
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. decus
9. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. decoración
10. ^ a b 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, 596
11. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. decoración
12. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 433
13. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1880