figurativo

Forms

figurativo (feminine figurativa, masculine plural figurativos, feminine plural figurativas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin figūrātīvus (“figurative”), a learned word.^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it without a date among the words of the family of figurar, under the article on figura.^[4] The Latin adjective is a late word, used by Cassiodorus of the figurative mode of speech.^[5] It is formed from figūrō (“to form, shape”) with the suffix -īvus.^[1] The verb comes from figūra (“shape, figure”), which is derived from fingō (“to knead, mould, shape”).^[4]

In 1887 Echegaray compared Catalan figuratiu, French figuratif and Italian figurativo.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest dated record in Boyd-Bowman's collection is from Guatemala in 1716, in a religious sense: la sangre del cordero figurativo “the blood of the figurative lamb”, the lamb of the Old Testament as a figure of Christ.^[7] The quotations of the Diccionario de Autoridades are of the same kind: one says that the Virgin did not offer a figurative lamb because she offered the true Lamb, and another speaks of the figurative ladder that Jacob saw in a dream.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defined the word as what is or serves as a representation or figure of something else, and the Academy kept that definition through the 19th century.^[8][9][10] Terreros described it as what teaches something through obscure likenesses.^[11] Domínguez added the synonyms simbólico, emblemático and representativo.^[12]

In the 20th century the word was applied to art that represents real things, as opposed to abstract art: the Academy's 2001 dictionary gives this sense, and Boyd-Bowman's records from Mexico City in 1970 and 1986 set figurativo against abstracto.^[13][7] The phrase no figurativo means “abstract”.^[2]

Timeline

• 1716 – earliest dated record, from Guatemala, of the “figurative lamb”.^[7]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as what represents something else, with the Latin equivalent figurativus.^[8]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros gives French figuratif and Italian figurativo as equivalents.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin figurativus.^[14]
• 1970 – a record from Mexico City opposes figurative and abstract painting.^[7]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary adds the sense of art and artists that represent real things.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. figurative, representational: being a representation or figure of something else: un sentido figurativo del texto.^[2][1][3]
2. (art) Of an artist or a work: representing real, recognizable people and things, as opposed to abstract art (abstracto): una escultora figurativa.^[2][15]

Related words

• figura
• figurar
• figurado

Usage notes

Arte figurativo is figurative art, and no figurativo is used of abstract art and of the artists who practise it.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. figurativo
3. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. figurativo
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 894
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 386
7. ^ a b c d 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. figurativo
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 750
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 359
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 459
11. ^ a b 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, 161
12. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 807
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. figurativo
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 496
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. figurativo