espectador

Forms

espectador m (plural espectadores, feminine espectadora, feminine plural espectadoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spectātor (“onlooker, observer”), a learned word like all the Spanish derivatives of the Latin verb for “to see” that Corominas lists under espectáculo.^[2][3][1] Cervantes still wrote it ⟨espectator⟩, and Cejador took that form for an Italianism;^[4] Corominas first finds the spelling ⟨espectador⟩ in Terreros.^[2][4]

The Latin noun is formed from spectō (“to watch”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[5][1] That verb is a derivative of speciō (“to see, observe”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”).^[6] The same Latin word is Catalan espectador, Portuguese espectador, French spectateur and Italian spettatore.^[7][8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cervantes uses the word in the second part of Don Quijote (1615) in the form espectator: siruieron de espectatores en la mortal tragedia “they served as spectators at the deadly tragedy”.^[4][9][2]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's 19th-century dictionaries first defined the word as someone who looks at an object attentively; the 1869 edition added the person who attends a public show.^[10][11] The 1884 edition made it an adjective, used mostly as a noun, and gave the etymology from Latin spectator, as the DLE still does.^[12][3] Domínguez in 1846 extended it to members of an audience and to someone who waits and watches.^[13] Records from the Americas begin in Lima in 1791, still with the spelling expectadores.^[14] Modern Spanish has formed telespectador “television viewer” from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 1615 – Cervantes writes espectatores in the second part of Don Quijote.^[4][9]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros has the modern spelling espectador.^[2]
• 1791 – the first records from the Americas, in Lima, spelt expectadores.^[14]
• 1843 – the Academy defines it as one who looks attentively at an object.^[10]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the sense “one who attends a public show”.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Latin etymology and treats the word as an adjective.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spectator or viewer: someone who attends a show, a ceremony or a sports event: Los espectadores aplaudieron de pie al final del concierto.^[3][15][1]
2. An observer: someone who watches something closely, often without taking part.^[1][15][16]

Adjective

1. Watching something attentively.^[3]
2. Attending a public show.^[3]

Word family

• telespectador

Related words

• espectáculo
• espécimen
• Latin spectātor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, 739
3. ^ a b c d e 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. espectador
4. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spectātor
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. espectador
8. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1419
9. ^ a b c Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 725
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 318
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 332
12. ^ 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. 458
13. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 744
14. ^ 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. espectador
15. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. espectador
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espectador