dogma

Forms

dogma m (plural dogmas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dogma (“doctrine, tenet”), which is from Ancient Greek δόγμα (dógma, “opinion; decision, decree”), from the verb δοκέω (dokéō, “to seem, be of the opinion”).^[2][3][4][1] In classical Latin the word was a term of philosophy, used of the tenets of Epicurus or the Stoics.^[5][6] In Medieval Latin it also meant orthodox belief and religious doctrine.^[7]

Beekes explains the Greek verb as a derivative of δέχομαι (dékhomai, “to take, accept”), and notes that it matches Latin doceō (“to teach”), both from a causative Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-éie-.^[8] Wiktionary gives the root as *deḱ- (“to take”).^[1] Corominas lists paradoja and docimasia among the other learned words from the same Greek verb.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is in Alfonso Chirino's Espejo de medicina (1454, in a 15th-century manuscript), where the word is feminine: las dogmas euangelicas “the Gospel teachings”.^[9] Alfonso de Palencia (1490) and Nebrija (1495) give it only as a Latin word, and Palencia defines it without a Spanish equivalent.^[9][2] Corominas's first record is Ribadeneira's work of 1599–1601.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By the 1540s Pedro Mejía wrote of the tres sectas y dogmas of the Jews, the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.^[9] Covarrubias (1611) defined it as teaching, the doctrine of a sect; he added that dogmatista and dogmatizante were always taken in a bad sense, of one who teaches errors against the faith.^[10] Autoridades (1732) defined it as a doctrinal proposition laid down as a principle of a science, and divided dogmas into Catholic ones and the false principles of heretics.^[11] Terreros noted that in the sciences Spanish preferred axioma or principio, and kept dogma mostly for religion.^[12] From 1817 the Academy's main sense was the truth revealed by God and proposed by the Church for belief.^[13][14] The 2001 edition still spoke of the doctrine revealed by Christ.^[15] The DLE now defines it as the body of unquestionable beliefs of any religion.^[4] The first record from the Americas is from Mexico City in 1687.^[16]

Timeline

• 1454 – Alfonso Chirino writes las dogmas euangelicas.^[9]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia defines the Latin word without a Spanish equivalent.^[2][9]
• c. 1540–1550 – Pedro Mejía writes of the dogmas of the Jewish sects.^[9]
• c. 1580 – first record of dogmatizar, in Fray Luis de Granada.^[2][3]
• 1599–1601 – Ribadeneira uses the word, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it with dogmatista and dogmatizante.^[10]
• 1687 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[16]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades distinguishes Catholic from false dogma.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Latin and Greek etymology.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A proposition held to be certain and an undeniable principle; an axiom (axioma).^[4][17][1]
2. The body of beliefs that the followers of a religion must hold and may not question: El concilio debatió durante semanas sobre el dogma.^[4][18]
3. The foundation or main points of a system, science or doctrine (doctrina).^[4]

Word family

• dogmático
• dogmatista
• dogmatizar

Related words

• paradoja
• docimasia
• doctrina
• Latin dogma

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 510
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dogma
4. ^ 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. dogma
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. dogma
10. ^ 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. 686
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 328
12. ^ 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, 697
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 334
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 397
15. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. dogma
16. ^ 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. docma
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dogma
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. dogma