destacar

Forms

destacar (first-person singular present destaco, first-person singular preterite destaqué, past participle destacado)^[1]

Etymology

In its military sense it is borrowed from French détacher (“to detach”), adapted to Spanish on the model of atacar, which answers to French attacher.^[2][3][4][1] Autoridades (1732) already called it a newly introduced word taken from French.^[5][3] Corominas weighed a source in Italian distaccare, but chose French because of the date of the word and its novelty in the 18th century.^[3] In the painting sense, “to make stand out”, it is borrowed from Italian staccare (“to detach, separate”).^[3][2][6]

The DLE derives the French verb itself from Italian, but the DHLF records Old French destachier from 1165, formed with the prefix des- as the opposite of the verb meaning “to attach”.^[4][7] That verb is an altered estachier (“to fasten to a stake”), from estache (“stake”), from Frankish *stakka (“stake”), which goes back to Proto-Germanic *stakkaz.^[6][1] The same Germanic word gave estaca.^[8][6] Wiktionary takes the Italian verb as a shortened form of the one with the prefix dis-, and Nocentini as attaccare with a change of prefix.^[1][9] Compare the English word detach.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is from Venezuela in 1642: se dio principio a destacar la infantería “they began to detach the infantry”.^[10] Corominas dates it to 1705, and to 1728 in the Spanish military ordinances that Autoridades quotes: a menos que se les destaque, y den tropas de otros “unless they are detached and given troops from others”.^[2][3][5] Older hits in the CDH, such as Alfonso X's destacas muy agudas, are de estacas “of stakes” written as one word.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Until the mid-19th century the dictionaries record only the military sense.^[12][13] Gaspar y Roig (1853–1855) add “to stand out” and the painter's sense, and in 1855 Baralt condemned phrases such as destacar un árbol del paisaje as Gallicisms.^[14][15] The Academy accepted the painting sense in 1869 and gave the French etymology in 1884.^[16][17] Today the commonest senses are “to emphasise” and “to stand out”.^[4][18][1] In Argentina destacar has also meant to trim and smooth the hooves of animals.^[19]

Timeline

• 1642 – the first record, in Venezuela, of detaching infantry.^[10]
• 1705 – the first record in Corominas.^[2]
• 1728 – the military ordinances use it.^[3][5]
• 1732 – Autoridades calls it a new word taken from French.^[3][5]
• 1853–1855 – Gaspar y Roig record “to stand out”.^[14]
• 1855 – Baralt rejects the figurative uses as Gallicisms.^[15]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the painting sense.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from French.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To highlight or emphasize: El informe destaca dos problemas.^[4][18][1]
2. (military) To detach a body of troops from the main force for an action: El general destacó una compañía hacia el puente.^[4][5][1]
3. (intransitive, also reflexive) To stand out, to excel: Destaca entre sus compañeros por su paciencia.^[4][18][1]

Word family

• destacable
• destacado
• destacamento

Related words

• destaque
• atacar
• estaca
• Italian staccare

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. atacar
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 386
4. ^ 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. destacar
5. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 231
6. ^ a b c Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 226
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
9. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
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, p. s.v. destacar
11. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. destacar
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 315
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 255
14. ^ a b Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 775
15. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 237
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 272
17. ^ 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. 375
18. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. destacar
19. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 572