evento

Forms

evento m (plural eventos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēventus (“outcome, occurrence”), a learned word.^{[2][3][1][4][5]} The Latin noun is formed from ēveniō (“to come out, turn out, happen”), from ex- (“out”) and veniō (“to come”), so it belongs with the inherited venir.^[6][1][4][2] The same Latin word gave Portuguese evento, recorded from the 16th century, Italian evento and Catalan event.^[7][8][9]

The Tesoro lexicográfico of Puerto Rico treats the sense “organised activity, celebration” as an adaptation of the English word event.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo's Vergel de los príncipes (1454–1457), where men grow sad through their constant business and diversos eventos e acaesçimientos “various events and happenings”.^[11] Corominas had dated the word to about 1520, in Padilla.^[2] Early American examples often mean “outcome”, as in dio nuestro (...) justo Dios tal evento e salida (Santo Domingo, 1548).^[12]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines evento as a happening or chance, something that may occur, and quotes para en qualquier evento “for any eventuality”.^[5] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 marked the word as old, with the phrases en cualquier evento and en todo evento.^[13] From 1843 the word appears without the label.^[14] In 1869 it was defined as an event of uncertain or contingent outcome.^[15] Moliner still found it current in Spain mainly in the phrase a todo evento.^[16]

The sense “planned social, cultural or sporting event” spread in the Americas: the Academy's dictionary of 2001 lists it for Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, and the DLE marks it as used mostly in America.^[17][3] The DLE also has two senses in linguistics.^[3]

Timeline

• 1454–1457 – first record, in Sánchez de Arévalo's Vergel de los príncipes.^[11]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario uses euento.^[11]
• c. 1520 – first record according to Corominas.^[2]
• 1546 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary marks it as old.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, Latin eventus.^[18]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary adds the American sense “planned event”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A happening, occurrence.^[3][16][1]
2. An eventuality, something unforeseen or that may happen.^[3][19]
3. (chiefly Latin America) An important planned event of a social, academic, artistic or sporting kind: El evento reunió a cientos de músicos.^[3][20]
4. (linguistics) The situation, static or dynamic, that a predicate describes.^[3]
5. (linguistics) A dynamic predicate.^[3]

Word family

• eventual

Related words

• venir
• acaecimiento
• Latin eventus
• Portuguese evento

Usage notes

A cualquier evento and a todo evento mean “whatever may happen” and “without reservations”.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. s.v. venir
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. evento
4. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México
5. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. evento
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1485
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 300
10. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. evento
11. ^ 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. evento
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. evento
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 400
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 330
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 344
16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. evento
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. evento
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. 475
19. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. evento
20. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. evento