editor

Forms

editor m (plural editores, feminine editora, feminine plural editoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēditor (“one who brings forth; giver of public shows”), which Corominas dates to Terreros's dictionary of 1765–1783.^[2][3][1] The Academy's 2001 dictionary also derives it from Latin, but the current DLE calls it an adaptation of French éditeur, comparing the Latin noun in the sense “author, founder”.^[4][5] The French word is formed from the verb éditer with the suffix -eur.^[1]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese editor, a learned word, and Catalan editor.^[6][7] The Latin noun is formed from ēdō (“to put out, give forth”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[8][1] That verb is a compound of ex- (“out of”) and dō (“to give”), and de Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the simple verb.^[1][9] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Terreros, who glosses the word as one who brings a work to light.^[2][10] In Latin the noun had meant something that emits or produces, and in late Latin a person who put on public games at his own cost.^[8][11]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's 1817 dictionary defined the editor as the person who brings out another's work and sees to its printing.^[12] Baralt, writing against Gallicisms in 1855, wanted the word kept for the scholar who revises and annotates another author's text, and set apart the bookseller who prints and sells works at his own expense, a figure modelled on the French libraire-éditeur.^[13] The verb editar was copied from French éditer;^[14][15] Baralt condemned it, and the Academy admitted it in 1899.^[2]

From 1869 the Academy recorded editor responsable, the person who by law signed every issue of a political newspaper and answered for its contents, and, figuratively, anyone who passes for the author of what others have done.^[14][15] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1791, for the editor of a Lima newspaper.^[16] Today it is also an adjective (empresa editora), the person who prepares or establishes a text, the coordinator of a collective work, and, in computing, a program for opening and changing files.^[5][17]

Timeline

• 1765–1783 – first record, in Terreros's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1791 – an editor del diario is mentioned in Lima.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as one who publishes another's work and sees to its printing.^[12]
• 1855 – Baralt discusses the word and condemns the verb editar as a Gallicism.^[13][2]
• 1869 – the Academy adds editor responsable.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy gives its etymology as Latin editor.^[15]
• 1899 – the Academy admits the verb editar.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That edits or publishes (editar): la sociedad editora del semanario.^[5][17]
2. (computing) Of a program: that lets the user open and change files; also as a noun, an editor.^[5][17]

Noun

1. A publisher: a person or firm that publishes a book, newspaper, record and so on, usually the work of others, in many copies.^[5][17]
2. The coordinator of a collective work.^[5]
3. A person who establishes and studies a text, especially a classical one; a person who prepares or adapts a text for publication.^[5][4]
4. (television) The person in charge of a programme, especially the news.^[17]

Word family

• editorial
• editar

Related words

• edición
• inédito
• Latin ēditor
• French éditeur

Usage notes

Editor responsable was formerly the person who by law signed a political newspaper and was answerable for it; colloquially it is anyone who takes the blame or credit for what others did.^[5][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. edición
4. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. editor
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. editor
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. editor
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. editor
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ēditor
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. dō
10. ^ 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. 4, 92
11. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. ēditor
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 341
13. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 252
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 295
15. ^ 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), p. 407
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. editor
17. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. editor