externo

Forms

externo (feminine externa, masculine plural externos, feminine plural externas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin externus (“outward, external”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of the Latin preposition extrā (“outside”), beside exterior and extremo.^[2][3]

The same Latin adjective was taken into Italian esterno and French externe.^[5] The Latin adjective is formed from exter (“outward, on the outside”),^[1][6] which Wiktionary derives from *h₁eǵʰsteros, a form built on *h₁eǵʰs, the source of ex (“out of”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old Spanish Textual Archive has two occurrences, the earlier in a manuscript of about 1491–1500 of the Libro de las paradojas of Alfonso Fernández de Madrigal, el Tostado.^[7] A document from Peru of 1561 calls a need externa, that is, outward or visible.^[8] Corominas dates the word from Oudin's dictionary of 1607.^[2][3] Saavedra Fajardo used it in 1640.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the adjective meant both “on the outside” and “foreign”, and in the plural it named foreigners.^[9][10] The Diccionario de Autoridades still gave “foreign, strange” as its sense, while noting that usage took the word for “exterior”, and quoted Saavedra Fajardo's demonstraciones externas and a passage on the jurisdicción externa of the Church.^[11] Terreros set it against interno.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 defined it as what acts or shows itself outwardly, and the 1869 edition added the contrast with what is internal.^[13][14]

The school sense, a pupil who comes only for lessons, was recorded by Salvá in 1846 as a neologism and entered the Academy's dictionary in 1899.^[15][16] It was also in use in the Americas: a text from Medellín of 1896 speaks of a boy who left boarding to attend as externo.^[8] Today the adjective is common in medicine and anatomy (conducto auditivo externo) and for workers or auditors from outside a firm.^[4][17]

Timeline

• c. 1491–1500 – the earliest of two occurrences in the Old Spanish Textual Archive, in a manuscript of the Tostado's Libro de las paradojas.^[7]
• 1561 – a document from Peru uses the feminine externa.^[8]
• 1607 – Oudin's dictionary, the DCECH's first record.^[2][3]
• 1640 – Saavedra Fajardo uses it in his Empresas.^[2][11]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as what acts or appears outwardly.^[13]
• 1846 – Salvá records the school sense as a neologism.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin externus.^[18]
• 1899 – the school sense enters the Academy's dictionary.^[16]

Meanings

Adjective

1. external: acting or showing itself on the outside, as opposed to what is internal: La causa del fallo fue externa al sistema.^[4][19][1]
2. Of a pupil: attending a school only during class hours, a day pupil; also used as a noun.^[4][19]
3. Of a worker or service: working for a company from outside, without belonging to its staff.^[17]

Word family

• externado

Related words

• interno
• exterior
• extremo
• extra
• Latin externus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 828
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. extra
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. externo
5. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 273
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. externo
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ a b c 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. esterno
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 228
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. externus
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 696
12. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 137
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 405
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 349
15. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 504
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 445
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. externo
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. 481
19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. externo