explosión

Forms

explosión f (plural explosiones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin explōsiō (“driving off with noise, hissing off the stage”), taken in the sense “noisy outburst, bursting”.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun comes from explōdō (“to drive off by clapping”), formed from ex- (“out”) and plaudō (“to clap”).^[5][1][6] The verb for clapping has no known origin.^[7]

The Spanish word followed French explosion, whose current sense dates from 1701; in 1776 Capmany, translating from French, complained that Spanish lacked the Latinism and that desahogo did not render it.^[2][7] The same word is Catalan explosió (from 1803) and Italian esplosione.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Feijoo uses it in 1739 in his Theatro crítico universal, for a flame that rises con grande explosión y mucho humo “with a great explosion and much smoke”.^[9] The CDH's first hit, in García de Silva y Figueroa's Comentarios (c. 1618), is a summary line, Horrible explosión que hubo en el polvorín de esta ciudad, “a horrible explosion in the powder store of this city” of Goa.^[9] Corominas, who did not know these, cites Moratín (died 1828) and the Academy's dictionary of 1817.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 18th-century science writing the word was used of powder, gases and even the bursting of pollen sacs, as in Mutis (1784).^[9] Echegaray in the 1880s already gives the figurative sense, a sudden outburst of long-pent feelings.^[10] The Academy's 1899 edition distinguishes the bursting of a container and the noise of an expanding gas, as in a firearm.^[11] The DLE now adds the working stroke of an engine (motor de explosión), a sudden rapid growth (explosión demográfica) and in phonetics the release of a stop consonant.^[4] The derivative explosivo entered the Academy's dictionary in 1884, and linguists coined implosivo as its opposite.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1739 – Feijoo uses it in the Theatro crítico universal.^[9]
• 1776 – Capmany notes the lack of the Latinism in Spanish.^[2]
• 1792 – first record in the Americas, in Lima.^[12]
• 1817 – first in the Academy's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 1884 – explosivo enters the Academy's dictionary.^[3]
• 1939 – implosivo is added to the Academy's dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An explosion: a sudden release of energy that raises the pressure quickly, with heat, light and gas, a loud noise and the violent bursting of its container: La explosión rompió todos los cristales de la calle.^[4][1]
2. The expansion of gas in an engine or firearm that drives one of its parts, as in a car engine.^[4]
3. A sudden outburst of feeling: una explosión de alegría.^[4][1]
4. A very rapid growth or spread: explosión demográfica.^[4]
5. (phonetics) The noise made by the release of a stop consonant.^[4]

Word family

• explosivo

Related words

• explotar
• implosión
• aplaudir
• French explosion

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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, 826
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. explosión
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. explosión
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 297
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 833
9. ^ 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. explosión
10. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 322
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 444
12. ^ 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. explosión