frase

Forms

frase f (plural frases)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin phrasis (“diction, style”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “expression, way of speaking”), a derivative of φράζω (phrázō, “to explain, make understood”).^[2][3][4][1] It first appeared in the 16th century as the masculine frasis, keeping the Latin ending; the feminine form, with the gender of the Greek and Latin word, spread from the early 17th century.^[2]

The same word was borrowed as Portuguese frase, French phrase and Italian frase.^[5][6][1] The DHLF calls the Greek verb of unknown origin.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the masculine frasis in Don Florisel de Niquea (1532), in the sense “language, phraseology”; the feminine frase is first found in Jiménez Patón in 1604.^[2] Earlier, in 1492, Nebrija's grammar named the Greek term phrasis for a correct joining of the parts of speech, perfecta habla.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the masculine frasis was used for a way of speaking or a writer's or a language's diction, and Cervantes still used it in the Quijote.^[2][8] The Diccionario de Autoridades, spelling it phrase, defined it as words joined to express a thought vividly, and also as a single word standing for another.^[9] The Academy's 1817 dictionary recorded frase proverbial, and its 1843 edition defined the word as the group of words that makes up a proposition, a vivid figurative expression, and the style of a writer or a language.^[10][11] The sense “musical phrase” is in Gaspar y Roig.^[12] Grammar now uses it for a phrase in the technical sense and for a sentence.^[4]

Timeline

• 1492 – Nebrija's Gramática castellana uses the term phrasis.^[7]
• 1532 – first record as masculine frasis, in Don Florisel de Niquea.^[2][3]
• 1564 – the first record from the Americas: a Mexico City text on the phrasis de hablar of the native language.^[13]
• 1604 – the feminine frase in Jiménez Patón.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades enters it as phrase.^[9]
• 1817 – the Academy records frase proverbial.^[10]
• 1843 – fraseología is first recorded, from English phraseology.^[3]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin phrasis and Greek.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sentence or phrase: a group of words that makes up a statement.^[4][1]
2. A set phrase (frase hecha).^[4]
3. An idiom (idiotismo).^[4]
4. The particular style of a language or of a writer or speaker: la frase de Quevedo.^[4]
5. (grammar) A phrase in the technical sense (sintagma); a clause or sentence (oración).^[4]
6. (linguistics) A fixed expression of two or more words whose meaning cannot be worked out from its parts.^[4]
7. (music) A short section of a composition with a sense of its own.^[4]

Word family

• frasear
• fraseología

Related words

• Latin phrasis
• French phrase

Usage notes

Frase hecha is a set phrase or proverbial saying;^[4] frase de armas in fencing is an unbroken sequence of actions between two fencers.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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, 949
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. frase
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. frase
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1605
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. phrase
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. frase
8. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 538
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 251
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 425
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 350
12. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 1042
13. ^ 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. frase
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. 508