episodio

Forms

episodio m (plural episodios)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπεισόδιον (epeisódion, “the part of a drama between two entries of the chorus; an addition”).^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary takes the Greek noun as the neuter of ἐπεισόδιος (epeisódios, “coming in besides”).^[1] Corominas derives it from εἴσοδος (eísodos, “entry”), a compound of ὁδός (hodós, “way, road”) with the prefix εἰς (eis, “into”); the DLE adds ἐπί (epí, “in addition to”).^[2][3][4] Gómez de Silva glosses the Greek word literally as “addition, appendage”.^[5]

The same Greek noun for “way” is in éxodo, método, período and sínodo.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to Cervantes, 1615, and notes that it is also in Lope de Vega but missing from Percyvall (1591), Oudin and Covarrubias (1611).^[2][3] The CDH has it earlier, in López Pinciano's Philosofía antigua poética (1596), a treatise on poetics, where the episodio is set beside the plot (argumento) as a part of the poem.^[7] The DTME also dates it from 1596, as a part of a narrative.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a term of literary theory: a secondary action, or a digression, joined to the main action of an epic poem or play to vary it.^[9][10] Francisco de Borja (1598) says Virgil and Tasso put only illustrious people even into their episodios and digressions, and in the Quijote it names the stories that interrupt the main plot.^[7][11] Autoridades defined it simply as “digression”.^[12]

The Academy's 1884 edition has the sense “incident, event connected with others”, the most common one today.^[13][4] In the Americas it is recorded from 1791 in Lima.^[14] A text from Buenos Aires of 1824 uses it of a strange incident.^[14] Later senses are an instalment of a radio or television serial, a short bout of illness in medicine, and an inning of baseball in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua.^[4][15][8]

Timeline

• 1596 – López Pinciano uses it in his Philosofía antigua poética.^[7][8]
• 1598 – Francisco de Borja writes of Virgil's and Tasso's episodios.^[7]
• 1604 – Lope de Vega, El peregrino en su patria.^[7]
• 1615 – the Quijote, the first record Corominas gives.^[2][3]
• 18th century – Autoridades defines it as “digression”.^[12]
• 1791 – first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy defines the secondary action of a poem.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Greek etymology and the sense “incident, event”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. In a work of narrative or drama, each of the partial actions that make it up.^[4]
2. A secondary action of a narrative or dramatic work; a digression.^[4][16]
3. An incident, an event connected with others that form a whole: un episodio de la conquista.^[4][1]
4. An episode of a radio or television serial.^[4][1]
5. (medicine) A short, clearly defined attack of illness.^[4][8][1]
6. (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua) An inning of béisbol.^[4][15]

Word family

• episódico

Usage notes

In Mexico hacerla de episodios means to complicate a story with invented incidents.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 650
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. episodio
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. episodio
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
6. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. episodio
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. episodio
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 373
11. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 481
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 537
13. ^ 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. 441
14. ^ 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
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. episodio
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. episodio