edificio

Forms

edificio m (plural edificios)^[1] Old Spanish also wrote hedificio and edefiçio;^[2][3][4] edeficio is the usual form in 16th-century records from the Americas.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aedificium (“building”), a learned word.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin noun is formed from aedificō (“to build”) with the suffix -ium.^[8][1] The verb, which Spanish borrowed as edificar, is a compound of aedēs (“dwelling, temple”) and faciō (“to make”).^[5]

De Vaan explains the noun as originally “fireplace”, then the room with a fireplace, and traces it to Proto-Italic *aiþ- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)idh- (“burning”); Ancient Greek αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn”) belongs to the same root.^[9] The form Medieval Latin edivicium in a document from León is Latin, not a popular Spanish form.^[5]

The same Latin word was borrowed as Catalan edifici, Portuguese edifício, Italian edificio and Asturian edificiu.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to about 1275, in the Crónica general.^[5][6] It is a little older in the Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260): derriba los edificios & yerma los poblados “it knocks down the buildings and lays waste the towns”.^[3][14] The Picatrix (1256) speaks of images made to ruin alguna uilla o alguna cibdad o algun edificio “some town or city or building”.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The sense has changed little since the 13th century: any building made to live in or for similar uses.^[15][2] Nebrija defines it as la mesma obra “the work itself”.^[16] Covarrubias (1611) calls it any construction, and Autoridades names a house, palace or temple.^[17][18] The Academy's definition of 1899 adds buildings for uses other than living in.^[19]

In the 19th century Domínguez and Gaspar y Roig note that the word often means a large or handsome building.^[20][21] They also record the figurative sense, a whole made of ideas or principles, as in el edificio social.^[20][21]

Timeline

• 1247 – algun edificio in the Fueros de Aragón as the CDH dates them; the DCECH dates this text to about 1300.^[3][5]
• 1254–1260 – edificios in the Judizios de las estrellas.^[3][14]
• c. 1275 – the Crónica general, the first record according to Corominas.^[5][6]
• 1330–1343 – hedifiçio in Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin aedificium.^[16]
• 1532 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico, as edeficios.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as any construction.^[17]
• 1846 – Domínguez records the figurative sense.^[20]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Latin etymology.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. A building: a fixed construction of durable materials, made to live in or for other uses: un edificio de diez plantas.^[7][23][1]
2. (figurative) A whole made up of ideas or elements, a system: el edificio de sus teorías.^[20][21]

Related words

• edificar
• edificación
• edil
• Latin aedificium
• Catalan edifici

Usage notes

Edificio público is a building occupied by public offices or services, and edificio de nueva planta one built from the ground up for its present use.^[23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 203
3. ^ 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. edificio
4. ^ 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. edeficio
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 546
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. edificar
7. ^ 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. edificio
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. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. edifici
11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. edifício
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. 2, 6
13. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. edificiu
14. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. edificio
15. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. edificio
16. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 340
17. ^ 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. 703
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 369
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 377
20. ^ a b c d 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. 656
21. ^ a b c Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 834
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 407
23. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. edificio