espera

Forms

espera f (plural esperas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Spanish esperar.^[2][3][4] The verb continues Latin spērō (“to hope”).^[5][1] In Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan, and in some Occitan dialects, it also took over the sense “to wait for” from aspectō.^[2] Old and classical Spanish also had the variant asperar, which almost always meant “to wait” rather than “to hope”.^[2] Corominas follows Cuervo in putting its initial ⟨a-⟩ down to the influence of aguardar.^[2] Old Spanish also had esperamiento in the same sense as the noun.^[2]

The same noun is Portuguese espera and Catalan espera.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (stanza 709).^[2][6] In legal texts of about 1250 it means a respite or an appearance awaited in court: the Vidal Mayor speaks of a surety de torna o de espera, and the Fuero de Viguera y Val de Funes of a fiança del espera.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades gives the act of waiting, the term granted by a judge for a party to do what is ordered, and outside the courts any term allowed to pay a debt or finish a piece of work; it also records espera as a kind of cannon, citing Argensola on two esperas that fired thirteen-pound balls.^[8] Early records from the Americas use it for a respite on a debt (Mexico City 1537: sueltas y esperas de las debdas, Havana 1579).^[9] Terreros adds a sense of carpentry and the forensic sense of a delay of payment granted to a bankrupt.^[10]

The Academy's 1899 edition lists patience (tener espera), a hunter's post, the old cannon, an old coin of the Levant and the carpentry term.^[11] The hunting sense lives in cazar a espera, and Leonese uses espera for a place where hunters wait for game to pass.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – Berceo, Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos.^[2][6]
• c. 1250 – the Vidal Mayor and the Fuero de Viguera y Val de Funes: legal respite.^[7]
• 1537 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades: waiting, a judicial term, a cannon.^[8]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros adds the senses of carpentry and of a respite for a bankrupt.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy adds patience and the hunter's post.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of waiting; a wait: Tras dos horas de espera, por fin nos atendieron.^[12][1]
2. Calm, patience, the ability to hold back and not act rashly: Es una persona de mucha espera.^[12][14]
3. (hunting) A post where the hunter waits for game to come of its own accord.^[12]
4. (historical) A kind of cannon used in former times.^[12][8]
5. (historical) An old coin of the Levant.^[12]
6. (carpentry) A mortise that starts at one edge of the face of a timber and does not reach the opposite one.^[12]
7. (law) A term set by a judge for doing something, such as presenting documents.^[12]
8. (law) A deferment of payment granted by creditors to a bankrupt or insolvent debtor.^[12]

Related words

• esperar
• esperanza
• desesperar
• aguardar
• Latin spērō

Usage notes

Espera is also a form of the verb esperar (él espera “he waits, he hopes”). En espera and a la espera de mean “waiting (for)”, and compás de espera a pause.^[12][14] An older word espera meant “sphere”: it is a form of esfera, from Latin sphaera.^[15][14] It is the word of the earliest hit for espera in the CDH (the Semejanza del mundo, c. 1223) and of Alfonso X's astronomical works, and Nebrija has espera de astrología.^{[15][7][16][17]} The Academy marked it as old in 1884, and Moliner lists it separately.^[18][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 740
3. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. esperar
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sperare
5. ^ 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. esperar
6. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. espera
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. espera
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 599
9. ^ 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. espera
10. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 98
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 424
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. espera
13. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. espera
14. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espera
15. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. sphaera
16. ^ 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. esfera
17. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 350
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 459