finalizar

Forms

finalizar (first-person singular present finalizo, first-person singular preterite finalicé, past participle finalizado)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish final + -izar.^[2][1] final, recorded from the early 15th century, is from Latin fīnālis, and goes back with fin to fīnis (“boundary, end”);^[3] the noun is itself a semi-learned descendant of the Latin word.^[4][5][3] Barcia and Echegaray compared Catalan finalisar.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the verb to 1728, from the military ordinances quoted in Autoridades.^[4][5] The CDH has an earlier example, a royal letter of 1485–1488 about Ávila that allows a bachelor of Salamanca to finalizar el pleito “bring the lawsuit to an end”; the next examples are from 1622.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1732) gave two senses: transitive “to conclude or finish a work, a writing or a speech”, and intransitive “to be consumed or come to an end”, quoting the military ordinances of 1728 for the second.^[9] Terreros added the equivalents French finir and Italian finire and a sentence on Alexander ending his life and his conquests together.^[10] The Academy first gave its etymology, “from final”, in 1884.^[11] Moliner adds the sense of being near its end.^[12] In the Americas the verb is recorded from 1718, in Nueva Vizcaya, Mexico.^[13]

Timeline

• 1485–1488 – first record, in a royal letter about Ávila.^[8]
• 1687 – the synodal constitutions of Venezuela use the participle finalizada.^[8]
• 1718 – first record in Mexico.^[13]
• 1728 – the military ordinances, Corominas's first record.^[4][9]
• 1732 – Autoridades enters the transitive and intransitive senses.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy derives the verb from final.^[11]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To finish, bring something to an end: Finalizaron la reunión con un brindis.^[2][1]
2. (intransitive) To come to an end, to be over: La exposición finaliza el domingo.^[2][12][1]

Word family

• finalización
• finalizador

Related words

• fin
• final
• finalidad
• finar
• Latin fīnis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. finalizar
3. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 293
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 900
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fin
6. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 757
7. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 395
8. ^ 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. finalizar
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 754
10. ^ 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, 165
11. ^ 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), p. 497
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. finalizar
13. ^ 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. finalizar