disponible

Forms

disponible m or f (masculine and feminine plural disponibles)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish disponer + -ible, as the DRAE of 2001 and Alemany give it.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary takes it instead as a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin dispōnibilis, itself from dispōnō (“to arrange, dispose”) with the suffix -bilis.^[1] The DCECH lists it among the derivatives of disponer, which Spanish took from Latin at the beginning of the 14th century.^[4][5]

The same word is French disponible, Catalan disponible, Italian disponibile and Portuguese disponível.^[1][6] The French adjective, borrowed from Medieval Latin, was rare before the 19th century.^[7] Houaiss dates the Medieval Latin word to 1367.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1552 Bartolomé de las Casas writes of men as ordinables, disponibles y dirigibles to eternal life, that is, capable of being ordered and directed to that end.^[9] The modern sense “at hand, available for use” is clear in 1811, when a Córdoba newspaper reports that the tropas disponibles “available troops” will march to the Danube.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare until the 19th century, when it became common of troops, money and goods ready for use: in 1820 a Santo Domingo document complains that there is not a single real available in the treasury.^[9][10] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 defines it as what is fit to be used.^[11] Alemany in 1917 records the military recluta disponible.^[3] The present dictionaries add the senses “(of an officer or civil servant) without a posting but ready to be posted” and “(of a person) free to take on work”.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 1516 – bienes disponibles “disposable property” stands in a bracketed heading of a will, which may be an editor's.^[9]
• 1552 – Bartolomé de las Casas uses disponibles in his Tratado comprobatorio.^[9]
• 1811 – the Correo político de Córdoba speaks of tropas disponibles.^[9]
• 1820 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[10]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as what is fit to be used.^[11]
• 1917 – Alemany derives it from disponer and records recluta disponible.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. available: that can be freely used or disposed of, or is ready for use: No queda ninguna habitación disponible.^[12][1]
2. (of a soldier or civil servant in active service) Without a posting, but ready to be posted at once.^[12][13]
3. (of a person) Free to work for or help someone: Hoy no estoy disponible, llámame mañana.^[12]

Related words

• disponer
• disposición
• poner
• French disponible

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. disponible
3. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 607
4. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 607
5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. poner
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 860
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. disponível
9. ^ 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. disponible
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. disponible
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 268
12. ^ 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. disponible
13. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. disponible