demanda

Forms

demanda f (plural demandas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish demandar (“to ask for, claim”).^[2][3][4] Corominas dates it to a charter of 1194, later than the verb, which the Cantar de mio Cid already uses.^[5][3]

The verb continues dēmandō (“to entrust, hand over”), formed from dē- and mandō (“to entrust, order”).^[6][7][1] In Latin it meant “to entrust, commit to someone's care”.^[7][8] It has cognates in Portuguese demandar, Catalan demanar, Old Occitan demandar, French demander “to ask, ask for” and Italian domandare.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 1194; the DEMel has the plural demandas in the Fueros of the kingdom of León in 1192.^[5][9] In 13th-century charters it is a legal claim: Et si demanda ouierdes contra mi “and if you have a claim against me”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used it for a request or petition, a legal claim or charge, a search (Juan Ruiz) and a riddle (the Libro de Apolonio).^[11] Alfonso X's laws use it for suits about tithes, offerings and marriage.^[12] Chronicles of the Americas use en demanda de for setting out in search of a place, as in Mexico in 1532.^[13]

Autoridades defined it as a plea, and recorded the collecting of alms for an image, a church or a hospital, and the tablet or image carried to collect them.^[14] Terreros (1786–1793) gave the legal sense of an action brought before a judge.^[15] The commercial sense “order for goods” entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884; the DLE now also has the economic sense, the total purchases of goods and services in a community, as in la ley de la oferta y de la demanda “the law of supply and demand”.^[16][2][17] In Puerto Rico the sense “exigency, claim” is counted as an anglicism from demand.^[18] In Costa Rica it names an annual procession of the image of the Christ of Esquipulas to several villages, and in Argentina a figure of the dance pericón.^[19][20]

Timeline

• 1194 – a charter, Corominas's first record.^[5][3]
• c. 1250 – the Libro de Apolonio uses it for a riddle.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin efflagitatio.^[21]
• 1532 – en demanda de “in search of” in Mexico.^[13]
• 1591 – Percyvall translates it as “a demand, a suite, an asking”.^[22]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the collecting of alms.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary adds the commercial sense.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A request, petition or demand: Los vecinos presentaron sus demandas al alcalde.^[2][1]
2. Alms collected for a church, an image or a charitable work; the person who collects them;^[13] (rare) the tablet or image carried to collect them.^[2]
3. A question (pregunta).^[2]
4. A search (busca): salieron en demanda de agua.^[2][13]
5. An undertaking or attempt; determination in pursuing or defending something.^[2]
6. (law) The claim made by the party who starts a lawsuit; the written complaint with which proceedings begin.^[2][1]
7. (commerce) An order for goods.^[2]
8. (economics) Demand: the total purchases of goods and services made or expected by a community.^[2]

Related words

• demandar
• mandar
• French demande

Usage notes

Presentar or interponer una demanda is to file a lawsuit.^[23][17] Demandas y respuestas are quarrels and disputes over a matter.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. demanda
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mandar
4. ^ 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. demanda
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 800
6. ^ 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. demandar
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. dēmandō
8. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 203
9. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. demanda
10. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. demanda
11. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 168
12. ^ 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. demanda
13. ^ a b c d 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. demanda
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 63
15. ^ 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, 604
16. ^ 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. 345
17. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. demanda
18. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. demanda
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. demanda
20. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 359
21. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 329
22. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 108
23. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. demanda