director

Forms

director m (plural directores, feminine directora, feminine plural directoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin director (“one who directs, guide”), first recorded in Spanish in 1604.^[2][3][1] The Late Latin noun was formed from dīrēctus (“straight; directed”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to direct”), with the agent suffix -tor.^[1][4] Vox dates the borrowing to the 18th century,^[5] but Corominas has it from the 17th, from the Diccionario de Autoridades on.^[6]

The Latin verb was formed from dis- and regō (“to rule, guide”),^[7][1] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to stretch, direct”).^[8] The Latin participle also lives on by the popular route in derecho, while directo is a learned borrowing of it.^[9] dirigir (15th century) and dirección (1607) were taken from the same Latin family.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1604 but gives no text.^[2] The first text in the HSMS archive is of 1663.^[10] Autoridades quotes Solís's Historia de la conquista de Nueva España for the general sense: aunque le hacía más falta como amigo, que como director de sus intentos “though he needed him more as a friend than as the director of his plans”.^[11] The first record from the Americas, from Chile in 1718, names confessors and directores of the people's consciences.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades gave four senses: the person in charge of the government and direction of something, the president of an academy, the one who holds a company's authority to manage its business, and, among moral theologians, the confessor who guides a person's conscience.^[11] The Academy added director general, the head of a branch such as the artillery, the navy or the royal revenues, in 1817.^[13] Domínguez (1846–1847) recorded the conductor of an orchestra and a grooved surgical probe that guides the scalpel.^[14]

The Academy's 1884 edition gave the etymology and the adjective “that directs”, with a geometrical sense whose feminine is directriz.^[15] Today the noun names the head of a company, a school, a newspaper, a film or a play, and the phrases director artístico and director de escena are recorded.^[3][16][1]

Timeline

• 1604 – first record, as dated by Corominas.^[2]
• 1663 – the first text in the HSMS archive.^[10]
• 1718 – first record from the Americas, in Chile.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades records four senses, among them the spiritual director.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy adds director general.^[13]
• 1846–1847 – Domínguez records the conductor of an orchestra.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology and the geometrical adjective.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That directs or guides (dirigir): el comité director del proyecto.^[3][5]
2. (geometry) Of a line, figure or surface: determining how another is generated; the feminine is then directriz.^[17][5]

Noun

1. A director, manager: a person who directs something by profession or office: La directora del hospital convocó una reunión.^[3][1]
2. The conductor of an orchestra or musical group.^[1][16]
3. The head of a school.^[1]
4. The editor of a newspaper or publication.^[1]
5. A film or stage director (director de escena).^[3][16]
6. (religion) A spiritual director, a person's regular confesor (director espiritual).^[16][15]

Word family

• codirector
• directorial

Related words

• dirección
• directo
• dirigir
• directriz
• directorio
• derecho
• regir
• Latin director

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. dirigir
3. ^ a b c d e 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. director
4. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 900
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
10. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 293
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real
14. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies)
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. director
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía