estación

Forms

estación f (plural estaciones)^[1] Old Spanish spelt it estaçion and estacion.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin statio (“a standing still; a post; a residence”), a learned word.^[3][4][5][1] Corominas dates it to Juan Ruiz, about 1330–1343, and the Breve diccionario to 1335; the corpus has earlier records in the 13th century.^[3][4][2] The Vox dictionary also calls it a 14th-century borrowing.^[6]

The Latin noun is formed from stō (“to stand”) with the suffix -tiō.^[7][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[8] The same Latin word lived on as Italian stagione “season”, and in stazzo “stay, standstill”.^[9] The popular verb of the same root is estar.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, known from a 15th-century copy) uses it for the devotions Alexander performs in Jerusalem: „fizo sus estaçiones, como la ley mandava” “he made his stations, as the law commanded”.^[2] In the astrological Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260) and the other Alfonsine works it is the apparent standstill of a planet.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Latin statio meant a standing still, a residence, a military post and an anchorage, and in astronomy the apparent halt of a planet.^[7][11] Spanish first took the astronomical and the religious senses, the visit to churches or altars to pray; in the Americas the estaciones of devotion are recorded from 1532 in Mexico.^[2][12] Autoridades defines it as the present state of a thing, above all of time, as in Góngora's „la estación florida”, and gives also an hour of the day and a place set aside for some purpose.^[13]

The Academy's 1884 dictionary adds the railway station and the telegraph office, which are not in its 1843 edition; the 1899 edition adds the telephone.^[14][15][16] Modern Spanish also has service, space and ski stations, and in the Americas a radio station.^[5][17] Slang knew correr las estaciones “to go round the taverns”.^[18]

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre (in a 15th-century copy) has estaçiones of devotion.^[2]
• 1254–1260 – the Judizios de las estrellas uses it for the station of a planet.^[2][10]
• c. 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz, the first record in the DCECH.^[3]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary glosses statio as the station of a planet.^[19]
• 1532 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades has the season of the year.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary has the railway station.^[14]
• 1899 – first record of the derivative estacionar in the Academy's dictionary.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A season: each of the four parts of the year: En esta estación llueve mucho.^[5][1]
2. A time or period of the year.^[5]
3. A station or stop where trains, buses or underground trains regularly stop.^[5][1]
4. The building or buildings of a railway or bus station.^[5]
5. The depot and offices of a tram company.^[5]
6. An office that sends and receives telecommunications.^[5]
7. A centre or set of installations for some activity, often scientific: estación espacial, estación de esquí.^[5]
8. A stopping place on a journey or walk.^[5]
9. (dated) A dwelling or abode.^[5]
10. (Christianity) A visit to a church or altar to pray, and each of the stopping points of the Stations of the Cross.^[5]
11. (astronomy) The apparent standstill of a planet in its orbit.^[5][20]
12. (Latin America) A radio station.^[17]

Word family

• estacional
• estacionar
• estacionamiento
• estacionario

Related words

• estar
• Latin statio
• Italian stagione

Usage notes

Andar las estaciones is to visit churches to pray for indulgences, and colloquially to go about one's business;^[21] vestir con la estación is to dress for the weather of the season.^[5] In Cuba and the Dominican Republic estación de Policía is a police station.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. estación
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 776
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estar
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. estación
6. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. estación
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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. estación
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
12. ^ 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. estación
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 622
14. ^ 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. 463
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 429
17. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org
18. ^ Besses, Luis (c. 1905), Diccionario de argot español o lenguaje jergal gitano, delincuente profesional y popular, Barcelona: Manuel Soler
19. ^ 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. estación
20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estación
21. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. miembro