expectante

Forms

expectante m or f (masculine and feminine plural expectantes)^[1] The 15th-century poets of the Cancionero de Baena wrote espetante.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exspectāns (“waiting, expecting”), the present participle of exspectō (“to look out for, wait for”).^[4][5][2] DICCA-XV takes it as derived from the verb expectar, from the same Latin verb.^[6] The verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and spectō (“to look at”), the frequentative of speciō (“to see”).^[1][7] Corominas treats it with expectación and expectativa in the article on espectáculo.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the form espetante in the Cancionero de Baena.^[2] Villasandino, a poet of that collection (known from a copy of about 1465), complains of not being espetante “in expectation” of a third seat in the city.^[3] The first record without a later copy is in documents of León cathedral of 1419–1426, where expectantes are clerics waiting for a vacant canonry, who had letters entitling them to the next one.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word was used of persons waiting for something owed or promised, often in church and legal language.^[3] It is missing from Autoridades.^[2] The Academy's dictionary admitted it in 1884, as “waiting while observing”, with actitud expectante and medicina expectante.^[9] Expectant medicine is the treatment that intervenes little and waits for nature to act.^[10][11] The legal sense of a right, fact or obligation that is known to be coming is a later addition.^[4][12] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1927, in Buenos Aires.^[13]

Timeline

• 1379–1425 – Villasandino writes espetante (in a copy of about 1465).^[3]
• 1417 – DICCA-XV's first record in the Crown of Aragon.^[6]
• 1419–1426 – documents of León cathedral speak of expectantes to a canonry.^[3]
• early 15th century – Corominas dates it from the Cancionero de Baena.^[8][2]
• 1884 – first in the Academy's dictionary.^[9]
• 1927 – first record in the Americas, in Buenos Aires.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Waiting and watching; on the lookout for something; expectant: una mirada expectante.^[4][12][1]
2. (medicine) Of a treatment: waiting for the course of the illness rather than intervening actively.^[14][11]
3. (law) Of a fact, thing, obligation or right: known to be forthcoming (venidero).^[4][12]

Related words

• expectación
• expectativa
• espectador
• Latin exspectō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. expectante
4. ^ a b c d 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. expectante
5. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b 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. expectante
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. expectación
9. ^ 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. 479
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. s.v. expectante
11. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. expectante
12. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. expectante
13. ^ 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. espectante
14. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. expectante