eje

Forms

eje m (plural ejes)^[1] Berceo has ax, a Riojan form, and the Libro de Alexandre ex;^[2] exe is recorded from about 1400, in the Toledo glossary, and in Nebrija.^[3] A manuscript of the Alexandre has the Aragonese forms axo and ax.^[3] DEMel also lists axe and exes.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish exe, inherited from Latin axis (“axle; axis”).^[3][4][5][1] The learned doublet axis, the name of the second vertebra of the neck, on which the head turns, is recorded from 1728.^[4][6]

The Latin word survives only in Portuguese eixo, Galician eixe, Catalan eix and Occitan ais.^[3] French and some Occitan dialects replaced it with a derivative, *axīle (essieu), and Italian with another, *axāle (sala).^[3] García de Diego adds Asturian exe and exa, and the Catalan variant ex.^[7] Corominas notes that it is often confused with the Latin word assis (“plank”), which was also written with ⟨x⟩ and has descendants in Italy and France.^[3]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *aksis and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- (“axle; armpit”).^[8][1] Its cognates include Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn, “axle”), Sanskrit अक्ष (ákṣa, “axle”), Lithuanian ašis (“axle”) and Old High German ahsa (“axle”).^[8][1] Latin āla (“armpit, wing”) and axilla (“armpit”) are from the same root, which may itself come from *h₂eǵ- (“to lead”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Berceo uses ax in the Martirio de San Lorenzo, from the first half of the 13th century.^[3] Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275) has the word for the axis of the heavens and for the axles of the things of this world: como ell ex del carro & dell azenna & dell annoria & del reloio “like the axle of the cart, of the water mill, of the waterwheel and of the clock”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the three main senses: the rod on which a body turns, the axle of a cart, and in geometry the line about which a line turns to make a surface; the General estoria calls the axis of the heavens el ex del firmamento.^[9] Nebrija's vocabulary of about 1495 has exe de carro and a grease for axles.^[10] Canary Island documents of 1505 and 1506 use exes for the wooden rollers of a sugar mill that crushed the cane.^[11]

Covarrubias defined exe in 1611 as the wooden pin on which a wheel turns, and as the imaginary line from pole to pole on which the astronomers made the heavens turn.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 spells the word eje and adds eje del mundo, the axis of the earth.^[13] Figurative senses followed: the central idea of an argument, the main theme of a speech, and the person or thing around which everything else turns.^[5][14]

In Mexico and Ecuador an eje vial is a broad, straight avenue used as an expressway.^[15]

Timeline

• first half of the 13th century – Berceo writes ax.^[3][4]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has ex.^[3]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses ex for the axis of the heavens and the axle of a cart.^[9]
• c. 1400 – the form exe appears, in the Toledo glossary.^[3]
• 1505 – hexes, the rollers of a sugar mill, in the Canary Islands.^[11]
• 1546 – first record in the Americas, in Puebla: los hexes for carts.^[16]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records exe and the astronomers' axis of the heavens.^[12]
• 1728 – first record of the learned doublet axis for the vertebra.^[4]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary spells the word eje.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “from Latin axis”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bar, rod or shaft that passes through a turning body and holds it as it turns.^[5][1]
2. An axle: the horizontal bar across a vehicle, at right angles to the direction of travel, that carries the hubs of the wheels.^[5][1]
3. (geometry) An axis: a fixed line about which a point, line or surface turns to generate a line, surface or solid; also the main diameter of a curve: el eje de abscisas.^[5][1]
4. (mechanics) A part that rotates in a machine.^[5][1]
5. The line that divides the width of a street, road or similar thing down the middle.^[5]
6. The fundamental idea of an argument, or the main theme of a speech or text: La economía fue el eje de su discurso.^[5][1]
7. The person or thing regarded as the centre of something, around which everything else turns.^[5][1]
8. (obsolete) A windlass (torno).^[5]
9. (Mexico, Ecuador) eje vial: a broad, straight avenue used as an expressway.^[15]

Word family

• enejar
• semieje

Related words

• axial
• axil
• axis
• Portuguese eixo

Usage notes

Covarrubias also records exe as a word said to a dog to drive it away, and the Academy's dictionaries from 1843 to 1869 kept this interjection.^[12][18][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. eje
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 547
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. eje
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. eje
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. eje
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 839
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c 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. eje
10. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. eje
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. eje
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 820
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 341
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. eje
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. eje
16. ^ 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. axe
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 409
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 277
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 296