despacho

Forms

despacho m (plural despachos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish despachar (“to dispatch”).^[1][2][3] The verb, recorded from 1406, came through Old Occitan despachar from Old French despeechier (“to remove an obstacle”) (modern French dépêcher).^[3][4][5] The French verb was made as the opposite of empeechier (“to hinder”) by a change of prefix, and the latter is a semi-learned outcome of Late Latin impedicō (“to fetter”), from pedica (“shackle, snare”), itself from pēs (“foot”).^[3][6]

Spanish thus has the pair empachar and despachar from the French pair of verbs.^[3] Corominas notes that the vowel /a/ shows they are not native Castilian words, which would have had /e/ as in ahechar and pechar.^[3] Nebrija preferred the noun desempacho.^[3] Catalan borrowed the noun as Catalan despatx.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Early hits of despacho in the CDH are mostly the verb form “he dispatched”.^[7] The noun appears in Pero Tafur's Andanças e viajes (c. 1457), where he sends el despacho del Soldan, the sultan's dispatch, to the king of Cyprus, and in the Madrid council records of 1464–1485 for the handling of a petition.^[7] The Crónica de Álvaro de Luna speaks of the despacho of some ambassadors, but survives in a 16th-century copy.^[7] Corominas dates the noun from 1545 in his Breve diccionario.^[4] The DCECH gives 1551.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed the senses of despachar: the quick settling of business, the sending off of someone or something, a decision, and the document that conveys it.^[8][7] Autoridades defines it as a decision or resolution, the act of dispatching, the room set aside for dispatching business, and the warrant or commission given to someone for a post.^[8] Terreros adds the place in a house where one writes and keeps one's papers.^[9] The Academy's 1869 edition adds a shop or counter where goods are sold and the written communications between a government and its representatives abroad, the despacho telegráfico and the despacho universal of the ministry of state.^[10]

Today the word means above all an office or study, the furniture in it, and a firm of professionals, as in despacho de abogados.^[11][12] In Chile a despacho was a country general store.^[13][14] In the Andes of Peru it is a ceremony of offerings to the earth, in Dominican belief a rite that sends a spirit to the other world, and in Nicaragua a meeting of an official with his staff.^[15][16]

Timeline

• c. 1457 – Pero Tafur sends el despacho del Soldan to the king of Cyprus.^[7]
• 1464–1485 – the Madrid council records use it for the handling of a petition.^[7]
• 1520 – the first record from the Americas, in Cuba, for the sale of goods.^[17]
• 1545 – the first record in Corominas's Breve diccionario.^[4]
• 1551 – the Nueva Recopilación, the DCECH's first record.^[3]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “expedition, dispatch”.^[18]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records the room where business is dispatched.^[8]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the shop and the diplomatic dispatch.^[10]
• 1917 – Alemany adds the telephone message and the Chilean sense “general store”.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of dispatching: sending off, settling or selling.^[11][1]
2. An office or study, a room or premises for study or professional work: Me esperaba en su despacho.^[11][1]
3. A firm of professionals working from such an office: despacho de abogados.^[11]
4. The furniture of an office or study.^[11]
5. A shop or counter where certain goods are sold: despacho de pan.^[11][12]
6. A written communication between a government and its representatives abroad; a dispatch.^[11]
7. A decision or resolution.^[11]
8. A document, title or commission appointing someone to a post.^[11][20]
9. A message sent by telegraph, telephone or any other means, such as a news agency report.^[11][21]
10. (mining, Latin America) A widening next to the cuttings in a mine.^[11][22]
11. (Peru) In Andean religious practice, an offering ceremony to the earth.^[15]
12. (Nicaragua) A meeting of a government official with his staff to settle matters.^[11][15]

Word family

• antedespacho

Related words

• despachar
• empachar
• empacho
• French dépêche

Usage notes

Despacho universal was the business of the ministry of state, and the secretario de Estado y del despacho a minister of the Crown.^[11][1] Correr los despachos meant to move business along without delay.^[11][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. despacho
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 568
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. empachar
5. ^ 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. despachar
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. dépêcher
7. ^ 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. despacho
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 207
9. ^ 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, 654
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 269
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. despacho
12. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. despacho
13. ^ Medina, José Toribio (1927), Chilenismos: apuntes lexicográficos, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Universo, p. 34
14. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 117
15. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. despacho
16. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. despacho
17. ^ 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. despacho
18. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 117
19. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 570
20. ^ García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. despacho
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. despacho
22. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 365
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 311