estudio

Forms

estudio m (plural estudios)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish estudio, borrowed from Latin studium (“zeal, application, study”), a learned word.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The Latin noun is formed on studeō (“to devote oneself, strive after”) with the abstract suffix -ium.^[6][1][7] De Vaan explains the verb as a stative of Proto-Indo-European *stud-eh₁- (“to thrust, hit”), so that “to be thrusting” became “to strive after”.^[7]

The same Latin noun is Italian studio, French étude, Catalan estudi and Portuguese estudo.^[8] It also had popular outcomes: stoggio (“affectation”) in Old Italian and Asturian estuyu, and through a Vulgar Latin verb *studiare (“to keep carefully”) it gave Old Occitan estug, the source of estuche.^[8][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is Berceo's Vida de San Millán de la Cogolla (c. 1230, known from an 18th-century copy), where the saint's firme estudio “steadfast zeal” in his penance seemed little to him.^[11] Corominas dates the word to 1220–1250.^[2] In Berceo's Santo Domingo (c. 1236, in a late 13th-century copy) the saint tornó a su estudio que avié costumnado “went back to the practice he was used to”, praying to Christ.^[11] The sense of effort spent in learning appears in the Libro de Apolonio.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the word means the act of studying, application and skill, and in a legal text of the late 13th century a centre of learning: los estudios are the cities' schools.^[13] Estudio general was the name of a university, as in Medieval Latin studium generale; a record of 1542 from Peru speaks of the estudio general of Valladolid.^[3][14][15]

Covarrubias explained the Latin word's many senses (diligence, love, eagerness) and said that commonly it meant the care with which men of letters work at finding out truths.^[16] The Diccionario de Autoridades added the classroom where grammar was taught and the room where a lawyer or scholar keeps his books, and the Academy's dictionary of 1817 the room where painters, sculptors and architects keep their models.^[17][18]

In Chile Román condemned the senses “treatise, essay”, “painter's sketch” and the musical study as Gallicisms;^[19][20] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 already included the treatise and the sketch.^[19][20] The DLE now adds the small flat and the premises for filming, broadcasting or recording.^[3] In Bolivia estudio is also a snooker in billiards.^[21]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán (in an 18th-century copy).^[11][2]
• c. 1240–1272 – Herman the German's translation of the Psalter, the first record without a later copy.^[11]
• 1254 – the Judizios de las estrellas uses it for the act of studying.^[13][22]
• 1256–1300 – a legal text uses the plural for schools.^[13]
• c. 1450 – the adjective estudioso is first recorded.^[2]
• 1462 – estudiante is first recorded.^[2]
• 1542 – the first record from the Americas, in Peru, in the phrase estudio general.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias discusses the Latin word.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the artist's studio.^[18]
• 1917 – Alemany includes the senses “treatise” and “sketch”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. The effort of the mind applied to understanding something; study.^[3][1]
2. The work of learning and cultivating a science or art: Dedica tres horas al día al estudio.^[3]
3. A study, a work of some length that sets out and analyses a question: Publicó un estudio sobre la poesía de Machado.^[3][23]
4. A preparatory sketch for a painting or sculpture (boceto).^[3]
5. The workplace of an artist, or of some professionals; a studio.^[3][1]
6. A small flat used as a home or office; a studio apartment.^[3]
7. (often plural) The buildings where films are shot or radio, television or music programmes are broadcast or recorded.^[3][1]
8. Skill and care with which something is done.^[3]
9. (historical) The institution from which a university (universidad) grew.^[3]
10. (music) An étude, a piece written to exercise the player in technical difficulties.^[3]
11. (plural) The subjects taken to obtain a qualification: Terminó los estudios de medicina.^[3]
12. (Bolivia, billiards) A snooker, a shot that leaves a ball where the opponent cannot hit it directly.^[21]

Word family

• estudiar
• estudioso
• estudiante

Related words

• estuche
• Latin studium
• Italian studio
• Portuguese estudo

Usage notes

Common phrases include estudio general “university” (historical), plan de estudios “curriculum”, bolsa de estudios “scholarship”, tener estudios “to be educated” and en estudio “under consideration”.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estudio
3. ^ 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. estudio
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. estudio
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. estudio
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 816
10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estuche
11. ^ 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. estudio
12. ^ Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 245
13. ^ a b c 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. estudio
14. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
15. ^ 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. estudio
16. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 815
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 658
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 399
19. ^ a b Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 320
20. ^ a b c Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 733
21. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. estudio
22. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org, p. s.v. estudio
23. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. estudio