fertilizar

Forms

fertilizar (first-person singular present fertilizo, first-person singular preterite fertilicé, past participle fertilizado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish fértil + -izar.^[2][1][3] fértil, a learned word from Latin fertilis (“fruitful”), is recorded about 1440, from ferō (“to bear, carry”), used of land bearing fruit.^[3][4][1] The Academy first gave this etymology in 1884.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rodrigo Sánchez de Arévalo, in his Suma de la política of 1454–1457, wants the waters of a city to serve not only its abundance but a la fertiliçar y fortificar “to make it fertile and strong”.^[6] The next records are from 1583, when Fray Luis de León writes that rivers fertilizan y hermosean las tierras “make fertile and beautify the lands”, the passage that Autoridades later quoted.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The verb has meant from the start to make land fruitful, and Autoridades also has the reflexive, of a province that becomes fertile when the rains return.^[7] Terreros notes a figurative use for the mind: rhetoric fertiliza el entendimiento.^[8] From the 17th century it is found in the Americas, where in 1636 the guano of Potosí is praised for fertilising the crops.^[9] The modern sense of enriching soil with fertiliser has become the main one.^[10][11] The DLE also gives it as a synonym of fecundar, the union of a male cell with a female one; the Spanish medical academy advises against this use as an unnecessary anglicism.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 1454–1457 – fertiliçar in Sánchez de Arévalo's Suma de la política.^[6]
• 1583 – Fray Luis de León, De los nombres de Cristo.^[6]
• 1625 – the first record from the Americas, of a river that waters and fertilises its plains.^[9]
• 1636 – the guano of Potosí, praised for fertilising the fields.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first derives it from fértil.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To make land fertile (fértil) or more fertile, especially by adding fertiliser (abono): Echamos ceniza para fertilizar el huerto.^[2][10][1]
2. (transitive, biology) To fertilize an egg cell; fecundar.^[2][12]

Word family

• fertilizante
• fertilizador
• fertilizable
• fertilización

Related words

• fértil
• fertilidad
• feraz
• Latin fertilis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. fertilizar
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fértil
4. ^ 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. fértil
5. ^ 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)
6. ^ 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. fertilizar
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 738
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
11. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
12. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es