esencial

Forms

esencial m or f (masculine and feminine plural esenciales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin essentiālis, formed Latin essentia (“essence”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] The DCECH lists it among the learned derivatives of ser and dates it about 1580, in Saint Teresa and Fray Luis de Granada; the BDELC moves the date back to the second quarter of the 15th century.^[4][5]

The Latin noun was coined to translate Ancient Greek οὐσία (ousía).^[6][1] Seneca credits Cicero with it, while Quintilian names the philosopher Plautus or the rhetorician Verginius Flavus.^[6] It is built on the infinitive of esse (“to be”) after the model of absentia and praesentia.^[1]

The same Latin word is Portuguese essencial, Catalan essencial, French essentiel, Italian essenziale and Romanian esențial.^[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest records are medical and philosophical, opposing what belongs to the nature of a thing to what is accidental.^[9] The CDH's first hit is the Sevillana medicina of Juan de Aviñón (1381–1418), known from a printing of 1545: la humedad es essencial & la calentura acidental “the moisture is essential and the heat accidental”.^[9] A manuscript of Estéfano de Sevilla written before 1400 speaks of the natura esençial of the archbishop, “choleric and sanguine”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

From “belonging to the essence” the word passed to “substantial, indispensable”: the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as substantial and intrinsically necessary, quoting Saint Teresa and the Quijote.^[10] In fortification the esenciales were the works without which the defence would be useless, such as the bastion, the curtain and the ditch.^[10] The adverb esencialmente appears in Santillana.^[4]

In chemistry and medicine the word gave aceite esencial “essential oil”, a symptom or illness of unknown cause (fiebre esencial), and in biochemistry a nutrient that the body cannot make and must take in with food.^[2][11][12] In the Americas it is recorded from 1567, in Mexico City.^[13]

Timeline

• 1381–1418 – the Sevillana medicina, known from a printing of 1545, opposes essencial to acidental.^[9]
• before 1400 – Estéfano de Sevilla's Visita y consejo de médicos speaks of a natura esençial.^[9]
• 1422–1433 – the Alba Bible of Mosé Arragel uses the adverb esençialmente.^[9]
• 1425–1450 – the date of first record in the BDELC.^[5]
• 1492 – Nebrija glosses Latin essentialis as belonging to that being.^[14]
• 1567 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[13]
• c. 1580 – the date the DCECH gives, from Saint Teresa and Fray Luis de Granada.^[4]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as substantial and necessary.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Belonging or relating to the essence (esencia) of a thing: La curiosidad es un rasgo esencial del niño.^[2][1]
2. essential, substantial, principal; indispensable: Es esencial que llegues a tiempo.^[2][11]
3. (biochemistry) Of a substance or compound: that the body cannot synthesise, so that it must be taken in with food.^[2][12]
4. (medicine) Of a symptom or illness: not due to any known disease, idiopathic.^[11][12]
5. (chemistry) Of an oil: obtained from a plant and keeping its scent, as in aceite esencial.^[2][11]

Word family

• esencialmente
• esencialidad

Related words

• esencia
• ser
• Latin essentia

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. esencial
3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. esencial
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 213
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ser
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. essentia
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. essencial
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. essencial
9. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. esencial
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 619
11. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. esencial
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. esencial
13. ^ 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. esencial
14. ^ 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. esencial