fila

Forms

fila f (plural filas)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from French file (“row, line”), taken as a military term.^[2][3][4][1] French has the word from the 15th century, and Corominas thinks an Italian source less likely because of the date of the first Spanish records.^[2] The Academy's dictionaries of 1899 and 1917 derived it directly from the Latin word for “thread”.^[5][6]

The French noun is formed from fil (“thread”) or from the verb filer (“to spin”), which go back to Late Latin fīlāre (“to spin”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”).^[1][7] The Latin noun comes from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- (“sinew”).^[8][1] The inherited Spanish word from the same Latin noun is hilo, and Old Spanish had a native hila “row”.^[9][2] The Romance words for “row” include Italian fila beside the French noun.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest clear record is the Gestas del rey don Jayme de Aragon (before 1396), where thirteen horsemen are to pass en fila con lures escudos enlos braços “in file with their shields on their arms”.^[11] Corominas's first record is the Spanish translation of Dante's Commedia attributed to Enrique de Villena, which he dates 1428 and the Breve diccionario 1438; the next is from 1702.^[2][3] Earlier CDH hits for fila are other words: “daughter” in Navarrese and Aragonese charters, and the verb “spins”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined fila as a long line of people or things, especially in a straight line, and noted a change in military use: a fila had been soldiers one behind another, but was now understood as soldiers side by side, shoulder to shoulder.^[12] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 has this military sense and the phrase en fila.^[13] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1554 in Cuzco, of fighting en la primera fila “in the front rank”.^[14] In the plural it came to mean the armed forces and, figuratively, a political party.^[4][15]

In Navarre, Aragon and Valencia a fila is a unit of water flow in irrigation channels.^[5] Corriente considers this sense a likely translation of the Arabic word for “thread”.^[16] In cant the word meant “face”, and Andalusian popular speech kept that sense.^[6][17][18] In Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru it is the crest line of a mountain range.^[4][19]

Timeline

• before 1396 – the Gestas del rey don Jayme de Aragon has passassen en fila “should pass in file”.^[11]
• 1428 – the Villena translation of the Commedia, Corominas's first record.^[2]
• 1554 – first record from the Americas, in Cuzco.^[14]
• 1702 – Cienfuegos uses ordenados en fila.^[2][12]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes the change in the military sense.^[12]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records en fila.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the irrigation measure of Valencia, Aragon and Navarre.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A row or line of people or things; a queue: Esperamos en fila delante del museo.^[4][1]
2. (colloquial) Dislike, a grudge (tirria).^[4]
3. (nautical) A formation of warships in line.^[4]
4. (mathematics) A horizontal line of letters or signs, as in a matrix or table.^[4][15]
5. (military) A line of soldiers standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder; a rank.^[4]
6. (rural, Navarre, Valencia) A unit of water flow in irrigation channels, from 46 to 85 litres a second according to the place.^[4]
7. (Costa Rica, Venezuela) The crest line of a mountain range (cordal).^[4][19]
8. (in the plural) The armed forces, as in llamar a filas “to call up”.^[4]
9. (in the plural) A political group: militó en las filas del partido.^[4]

Related words

• filo
• hilo
• hilera
• desfilar
• French file
• Latin fīlum

Usage notes

Fila india is a single file of people one behind another, and the military commands romper filas and cerrar filas are used figuratively.^[4][1] In Asturias fila is an evening gathering of women to spin, a word of the native hilar.^[20][2]

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. 3, 361
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hilo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. fila
5. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 460
6. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. fila
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. fila
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. filum
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fila
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 751
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 416
14. ^ 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. fila
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fila
16. ^ Corriente, Federico (1999), Diccionario de arabismos y voces afines en iberorromance, Madrid: Gredos, p. 322
17. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 276
18. ^ Besses, Luis (c. 1905), Diccionario de argot español o lenguaje jergal gitano, delincuente profesional y popular, Barcelona: Manuel Soler, p. 84
19. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. fila
20. ^ Rato y Hevia, Apolinar de (1891), Vocabulario de las palabras y frases bables que se hablaron antiguamente y de las que hoy se hablan en el Principado de Asturias, Madrid: Manuel G. Hernández, p. 60