ensayo

Forms

ensayo m (plural ensayos)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin exagium (“a weighing”), a Late Latin word of the same family as the classical exigō (“to weigh, examine”) and exāmen (“a weighing, examination”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary describes the Late Latin noun as formed from the verb with the suffix -ium, and the verb as ex- and agō (“to drive”).^[1][5] In Medieval Latin the noun meant a weighing, the checking of weights, a weight, the assaying of metals and an ordeal.^[6]

Corominas holds that the sense “test, trial”, shared by all the Romance languages, was already Latin: the late Greek borrowing from Latin, Ancient Greek ἐξάγιον (exágion), already meant “verification”, from which “test” and “attempt” followed easily.^[2][7] The same word is Italian saggio, French essai, Catalan assaig and Portuguese ensaio.^[2][8][9] For the change of the Latin initial ex- to en- Corominas compares ensanchar and enjugar.^[2] Nascentes explains the ⟨n⟩ of the Portuguese form by that language's dislike of a bare initial e-.^[10]

The verb ensayar is derived from the noun, although it is recorded earlier, in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140).^[2][3] The sense “short literary work”, which appeared at the beginning of the 19th century, was copied from French according to Vox.^[11] Corominas names both French and English as its models.^[2] The rugby sense translates English try.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Berceo.^[2] In the Vida de San Millán (c. 1230, known from an 18th-century copy) the plural names the devil's attempts on the hermit: Fizo muchos ensayos la bestia maleíta por estorvar la vida del santo eremita “the accursed beast made many attempts to hinder the life of the holy hermit”.^[12] The Tentative Dictionary glosses Berceo's use as “the act of trying”.^[13]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's Estoria de España (1270–1284) the word is a test of someone's worth: escogiste por ensayo un cauallero “you chose a knight as a test”.^[12][14] In the Americas it was used from 1538 in Lima for the assaying of gold.^[15] Autoridades defined it as an inspection or examination of the state of things, “as of a comedy, a tournament or another festivity”.^[16] Salvá (1846) recorded the private rehearsal of a play or piece of music before its public performance.^[17]

The literary sense is a 19th-century loan.^[2] Baralt (1855) accepted it as established by use, thought it came from Italian, and dated it to the beginning of his century.^[18] The Academy had added it by 1869, with the assaying of ores, and gave the etymology from 1884 on.^[19][20] ensayista “essayist”, imitated from English, dates from the 20th century;^[21] Corominas notes that the Academy still lacked it in 1899.^[3][2] Today the DLE also lists the analysis of a coin to find its fineness, and the phrase ensayo general “dress rehearsal”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – first record of the noun, in Berceo.^[3][2]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses it for a test of a knight.^[12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin meditatio for a rehearsal of a fight and simulachrum pugnae for one of war.^[21]
• 1538 – first record in the Americas, in Lima, for the assaying of gold.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as an examination or test, as of a play or a tournament.^[16]
• 1846 – Salvá records the private rehearsal of a play or piece of music.^[17]
• 1855 – Baralt discusses the new literary sense.^[18]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary has the literary sense and the assaying of ores.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A test or trial; the act of trying something out; an attempt: Hicieron varios ensayos antes de lanzar el cohete.^[4][1]
2. A rehearsal of a play, a concert or a show before it is performed in public: Mañana tenemos el último ensayo antes del estreno.^[1][11]
3. An essay: a prose work in which an author develops personal ideas on a subject.^[4][1]
4. The essay as a literary genre.^[4]
5. (mining) An assay: an analysis that finds which metals an ore contains and in what proportion.^[4]
6. The analysis of a coin to find its fineness.^[4]
7. (rugby) A try.^[11]

Word family

• ensayar
• ensayista
• ensayismo
• tubo de ensayo

Related words

• exigir
• examen
• Portuguese ensaio
• English essay

Usage notes

Ensayo general is the dress rehearsal of a play or a musical work before its first night.^[4] Tubo de ensayo is a test tube.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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, 640
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ensayo
4. ^ 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. ensayo
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. exigō
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. exagium
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. exagium
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. exagium
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. exagium
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. ensaio
11. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ensayo
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ensayo
13. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 221
14. ^ 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. ensayo
15. ^ 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. ensayo
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 493
17. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 454
18. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. s.v. ensayo
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 314
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 434
21. ^ a b 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. ensayo