discontinuar

Forms

discontinuar (first-person singular present discontinúo, first-person singular preterite discontinué, past participle discontinuado)^[1] The variant descontinuar is as old, from the same text of 1437, and was the Academy's main form from Autoridades to 1899.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish dis- + continuar.^[1] Autoridades analysed the variant descontinuar in the same way, as des- added to the verb.^[3] continuar was taken about 1260 from Latin continuō (“to join, continue”), from continuus (“adjacent, continuous”), from contineō (“to hold together”), from teneō (“to hold”).^[5][6] The same verb is French discontinuer and Italian discontinuare.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DICCA-XV and the CORDE date the first record to 1417.^[6] The earliest text in the CDH is the Tostado's Libro de las paradojas (1437, in a 15th-century copy), which uses the verb of breaking bodily continuity: se discontinuan los Virgines claustros “the virginal enclosures are broken”.^[8] Fray Vicente de Burgos's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus (1494) says that light comes forth sin la discontinuar o dividir “without interrupting or dividing it”.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare: the CDH has only 12 documents, against 30 for descontinuar.^[8][2] Autoridades in 1732 sent discontinuar to descontinuar, and the Academy did so until 1899;^{[10][4][11][12]} Terreros quotes it from Cosme de Aldana.^{[10][4][11][12]} The DLE now defines discontinuar and refers descontinuar to it.^[13][14] In the Americas descontinuar has been recorded from 1702 (Mexico City), and in several countries it means to stop making a product.^[15][14]

Timeline

• 1417 – first record according to DICCA-XV and the CORDE.^[6]
• 1437 – discontinuar and descontinuar in the Tostado's Libro de las paradojas.^[8][2]
• 1494 – discontinuar in the Spanish Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[8][9]
• 1653 – discontinuada of land separated from the other continents, in Bernabé Cobo.^[8]
• 1732 – Autoridades refers discontinuar to descontinuar.^[10]
• 1791 – discontinuado in a text from Lima.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To discontinue, break off or interrupt the continuation of something: Tuvieron que discontinuar las obras por la lluvia.^[13][1][16]

Related words

• descontinuar
• discontinuo
• continuar
• continuo

Usage notes

Descontinuar is a variant; in the Antilles, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru it also means to stop manufacturing something.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. descontinuar
3. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 138
4. ^ 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)
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. continuo
6. ^ a b c 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
7. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto
8. ^ 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. discontinuar
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 297
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía
12. ^ a b 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, 685
13. ^ a b 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. discontinuar
14. ^ a b c 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. descontinuar
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial