discernir

Forms

discernir (first-person singular present discierno, first-person singular preterite discerní, past participle discernido)^[1] Until the 15th century the verb was mostly discerner, diçerner or desçerner, of the second conjugation;^[2] Autoridades notes that the older form was discerner.^[3][2] Like cernir it diphthongises under stress: discierno, discierne, discierna.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin discernō (“to separate, distinguish”), a learned word of the second quarter of the 15th century according to Corominas.^[5][6][1][7] The Latin verb is formed from dis- (“apart”) and cernō (“to sift, distinguish”).^[8][1] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *krinō and Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to sift, separate”), which also gave Ancient Greek κρίνω (krī́nō, “to separate, judge”).^[9][1]

The same Latin verb gave the inherited cerner (“to sift”); discreto and discreción come from the participle discrētus and its noun, and discriminar from discrīmen.^[5] Román notes that in Latin America the legal sense of conferring an office was confused with dēcernō (“to decide, decree”), so that the verb came to mean “to award”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is the Castilian translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem, after 1350: spiritual men a quien pertenesçe diçerner sins and their circumstances, “whose task it is to discern”.^[3] The DEMel cites desçerne from the Libro de los doce sabios of about 1237.^[11] Juan Fernández de Heredia uses desçerner and discernir in his translations of 1376–1396, of judging which of the goddesses is most beautiful.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to distinguish one thing from another” has been the main one since the 14th century;^[12] Estéfano de Sevilla, before 1400, writes that the physician must diçerner lo malo de lo bueno.^[3] The legal sense, of a judge entrusting someone with a guardianship, appears in a 1422 document, disçernió la dicha tutela, and is frequent in records from Peru and Puebla from 1539.^[3][12] Covarrubias in 1611 explains it as distinguishing and judging things, and connects with it the discretos of religious orders.^[13] Autoridades in 1732 gave three senses: to distinguish mentally, to distinguish by a sense, especially sight, and to entrust a guardianship.^[2] Alemany in 1917 labels “to award, confer” (prizes, honours) as Latin American, a use Román criticised and Santamaría found common in the courts; the DLE now gives it without a label.^{[14][10][15][6]}

Timeline

• c. 1237 – desçerne in the Libro de los doce sabios, per the DEMel.^[11]
• after 1350 – diçerner in the translation of Jacques de Vitry's history of Jerusalem.^[3]
• 1422 – disçernió la dicha tutela in a guardianship document.^[3]
• 1427–1428 – disçernir in Enrique de Villena's Aeneid translation.^[3]
• second quarter of the 15th century – Corominas's date for the word.^[5][16]
• 1539 – first record in the Americas, of a guardianship in Peru.^[12]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin discerno.^[13]
• 1705 – discernimiento first recorded.^[5]
• 1917 – Alemany records the Latin American sense “to award”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To discern, distinguish one thing from another by noting the difference between them, usually by the mind: No sabe discernir lo justo de lo injusto.^[6][1][4]
2. To award or confer a post, distinction or honour.^[6][7]
3. (law) Of a judge, to entrust someone with the guardianship (guardianship) of a minor or with another office.^[4][7][2]

Word family

• discernimiento
• discernible

Related words

• cernir
• discreción
• discreto
• cerner
• discriminar
• Latin discernō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 295
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. discernir
4. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cerner
6. ^ a b c d 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. discernir
7. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
12. ^ a b c 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. decernir
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 679
14. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo
16. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto