espacio

Forms

espacio m (plural espacios)^[1] Old Spanish texts spell it espaçio, espacio, spacio, espatio and espaio.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin spatium (“racecourse; extent, space”), which Corominas calls a semi-learned descendant.^[3][4] Wiktionary and García de Diego treat it as a learned word taken from Latin.^[1][5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese espaço, Galician espazo, Catalan espai, French espace and Italian spazio.^[5][6][1] Coromines considers the Catalan word, too, taken from Latin through the schools and the clergy, with a partly popular sound development; the older Catalan form was espau.^[7][5] French borrowed the Latin word in the 12th century.^[8] Fully popular outcomes are few: the REW cites Old Italian spazzo (“floor”).^[6]

The origin of the Latin noun is unclear: de Vaan considers a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *sph₁-to- (“prospered, fattened”), in the sense “extended”, possible but unprovable, and finds a link with pateō (“to be open”) hard to defend.^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where the Cid's daughters' affairs are to prosper por espacio, “in time, by and by”.^[3][10] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) gives a debtor a term: El debdor aya espaçio de XXX dias, “the debtor shall have a respite of thirty days”.^[10] In the Middle Ages such secondary senses, “calm, ease”, “comfort” and “term, delay”, were more common than the spatial one.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The prose of Alfonso X already uses the word for the distance between two bodies, for the extent of a piece of ground, for a lapse of time and for an open place.^[11] Alonso de Palencia (1490) uses the etymological sense, and Nebrija defines it as “a space of time or place”.^[3][12]

Covarrubias (1611) gives place and interval of time, the musicians' space between the lines of the staff, and phrases such as ir de espacio “to go slowly”.^[13] Autoridades (1732) adds “slowness, phlegm” as a separate sense.^[14] From de espacio came the adverb despacio, first “calmly” (1335) and then “slowly” (1410).^[4][3] In Mexico espacio itself has been used as an adverb, “slowly”.^[15]

The Academy's dictionary of 1817 has the printer's piece of metal that separates words and a provincial Asturian sense “open field”.^[16] Its edition of 1884 first defined space as a boundless extent containing all bodies, and that of 1899 as the container of all coexisting objects.^[17][18] The DLE now adds outer space, a radio or television programme and the mathematical sense.^[19] The adjective espacial entered the Academy's supplement in 1939.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid, in a 14th-century copy.^[10][3]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses it for a term of thirty days.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the distance between bodies.^[11]
• 1251 – the verb espaciar, “to relieve, console”, in the Calila.^[3][4]
• 1335 – despacio “calmly” in Juan Ruiz;^[4][3] “slowly” from 1410.^[4][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: espacio de tiempo o lugar, Latin spacium.^[12]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the musical sense.^[13]
• 1732 – Autoridades records the sense “slowness”.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy defines space as a boundless extent containing all bodies.^[17]
• 1939 – espacial in the Academy's supplement.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. space: the extent that contains all existing matter.^[19][1]
2. The part of space that a body occupies; room, capacity: Ya no queda espacio en el maletero.^[19][20]
3. outer space: Los astronautas regresaron del espacio..^[19][1]
4. Distance, gap between two bodies; in a text, the blank between lines, letters or words.^[19][1]
5. A period of time between two events, often in por espacio de “for (a length of time)”.^[19][14]
6. A radio or television programme.^[19]
7. (physics) The distance travelled by a moving body in a given time.^[19]
8. (printing) A piece of metal type used to separate words or letters.^[19][1]
9. (mathematics) A set of elements with given postulates, as in espacio vectorial.^[19]
10. (music) The gap between two lines of the staff.^[19][13]
11. (rare) Slowness, delay;^[19] (obsolete) recreation.^[19]

Word family

• espaciar
• espacioso
• espacial
• despacio
• espaciotemporal

Related words

• Latin spatium
• Portuguese espaço
• Catalan espai

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. espacio
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 731
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espacio
5. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. spatium
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 607
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. espacio
11. ^ a b 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. espacio
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 349
13. ^ 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. 783
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 586
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 622
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 385
17. ^ 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. 455
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 421
19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. espacio
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espacio