disparidad

Forms

disparidad f (plural disparidades)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish dispar + -idad, as the DLE and García de Diego explain it.^[2][3] The adjective is from Latin dispar (“unequal, unlike”), first recorded in Spanish in 1444.^[4][5] Corominas dates the noun to 1623, among the derivatives of par, beside paridad of 1515.^[4]

The Diccionario de Autoridades derived it instead from Latin disparitas, which it glossed with the same meaning.^[6] Niermeyer records that noun in medieval texts in the sense “dissimilarity”.^[7] Terreros, who gave it as the Latin equivalent, called it a barbarous word.^[8] Alemany analysed the Spanish noun as dis- added to the noun for “parity”.^[9] The 19th-century dictionaries compare Catalan disparitat, French disparité and Italian disparità.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo's Suma de la política (1454–1457, in a copy of the second half of the 15th century), which warns that a city should not have grande dessemejança y apartamiento e disparidad de costunbres “great dissimilarity, division and disparity of customs”.^[12] This is earlier than the date of 1623 that Corominas gives.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first sense, a lack of likeness or equality between things.^[12][2] In 1498 Domingo Marcos Durán used it in music theory, of the different pitches of the voices.^[12] Autoridades (1732) also records a scholastic use: the difference of circumstances that keeps two cases from being judged alike, as in razón de disparidad.^[6] The Academy defined it as dissimilarity, inequality and difference from 1843 to 1899, and the DLE still does.^{[13][14][15][2]} Domínguez added the senses of opposition and lack of uniformity.^[16] Canon law has the phrase disparidad de cultos, the difference of religion between the spouses that made a Catholic marriage impossible.^[2][17]

Timeline

• 1444 – first record of the adjective dispar.^[4]
• 1454–1457 – Sánchez de Arévalo writes of a disparidad de costunbres in his Suma de la política.^[12]
• 1498 – Domingo Marcos Durán uses it of the pitches of the voices in his Glosa sobre Lux bella.^[12]
• 1623 – Corominas's first date for the noun.^[4]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades derives it from the Latin disparitas and records the scholastic razón de disparidad.^[6]
• 1738 – first record from the Americas, in the New Kingdom of Granada.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. disparity: lack of likeness or inequality between things: Había una gran disparidad entre los precios de las dos ciudades.^[2][17][1]
2. (canon law) In disparidad de cultos: the difference of religion between two people, an impediment to a Catholic marriage.^[2][17]

Related words

• dispar
• paridad
• par
• Latin disparitas

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. disparidad
3. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. disparidad
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. par
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. dispar
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, s.v. disparidad
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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, 689
9. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 606
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 859
11. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 223
12. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. disparidad
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 268
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 393
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 364
16. ^ 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, p. 631
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. disparidad
18. ^ 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. disparidad