espectáculo

Forms

espectáculo m (plural espectáculos)^[1] 16th-century texts also write espetáculo and expectáculo.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spectāculum (“sight, show”), a learned word.^[5][6][7][1] The Latin noun is formed from spectō (“to look at, watch”) and -culum.^[8][1] That verb is a frequentative of the archaic speciō (“to see, observe”).^[5][9][1]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese espectáculo, Catalan espectacle, French spectacle and Italian spettacolo.^[10] The archaic verb continues *spekjō, from *spéḱyeti, and is cognate with Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at, examine”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Breve diccionario dates the word to 1438.^[6] The first hit in the CDH is Juan de Mena's commentary on his Coronación (c. 1439), which, citing Isidore's Etymologies, says that the theatre is named from espectáculo, the place where people go up to watch the games.^[2] Corominas gives 1539, Antonio de Guevara, and notes that in 1490 Alonso de Palencia still rendered Latin spectaculum with a paraphrase.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th and 16th centuries the word named the games and plays of antiquity: in 1499 Fernández de Santaella explains the amphitheatre as the place where the ancients watched espectaculos o juegos o comedias o tragedias.^[2] It was soon also used for any striking sight, as when Las Casas calls a scene espectáculo de gran alegría “a sight of great joy”.^[2]

In 1817 the Academy defined it as a public game or festivity in circuses or theatres, such as the gladiatorial games of old and the plays and bullfights of its own day, and also as any grave, usually pitiful event that draws people's attention.^[11] The 1899 edition gave the modern definitions: a public show, and anything that offers itself to the sight or the mind and stirs delight, wonder or pain.^[12] The current dictionary adds the world of show business and the scandalous act of the phrase dar un espectáculo “make a scene”.^[7][13]

Timeline

• 1438 – the first date in the Breve diccionario.^[6]
• c. 1439 – Juan de Mena's commentary on the Coronación.^[2]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia translates Latin spectaculum without the word.^[5]
• 1499 – Fernández de Santaella's Vocabulario eclesiástico has the plural espectaculos.^[2]
• 1539 – Antonio de Guevara, Corominas's first record.^[5]
• 1575 – the first records from the Americas, in Mexico, spelt expectáculo and espetáculo.^[3]
• 1817 – the Academy names gladiatorial games, plays and bullfights as examples.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the modern definitions and the etymology from Latin.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A show or public performance in a theatre, circus or other place where people gather to watch: Fuimos a un espectáculo de danza.^[7][1]
2. show business, the professions connected with shows: trabaja en el espectáculo.^[7][1]
3. A spectacle, a sight or scene that draws attention and stirs delight, wonder or pain: El amanecer sobre el valle era un espectáculo.^[7][13]
4. An act that causes scandal or great surprise, as in dar un espectáculo “to make a scene”.^[7][13]

Word family

• espectacular

Related words

• espectador
• especie
• especular
• aspecto
• Latin spectāculum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. espectáculo
3. ^ 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. espectáculo
4. ^ 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. 495
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 739
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espectáculo
7. ^ 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. espectáculo
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spectāculum
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
10. ^ Simonet, Francisco Javier (1888), Glosario de voces ibéricas y latinas usadas entre los mozárabes, Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Fortanet, p. 433
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 387
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 424
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espectáculo