función

Forms

función f (plural funciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fūnctiō (“performance, execution; payment of a tax”), a noun formed from fungor (“to perform, discharge”).^[2][3][4][1] De Vaan derives the verb from an Indo-European nasal present meaning “to be of use”, and Wiktionary from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewg- (“to enjoy, be of use”).^[5][1]

Corominas thinks the word came in as a medical term, as its first example shows, and then quickly became common.^[2] In Late Latin the noun also meant a public service or a tax, and the REW traces the medieval tax names Old Spanish furcion and enfurcion to it.^[6][7] The French word, French fonction, was borrowed in 1370 and again in 1566.^[8] Catalan funció is first recorded in 1688 and Portuguese função in 1675.^[8][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH dates the word from Valverde in 1657, and notes that it is still missing from Percyvall, Minsheu, Oudin, Covarrubias and Franciosini.^[2][3] The CDH has earlier examples: Miguel de Urrea's translation of Vitruvius (1582) speaks of the función of the parts of a building, and Juan de Pineda (1589) asks what funciones u operaciones an organ has in the body.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades gives the exercise of an office as the strict sense, and then any public act with a large attendance, a gathering in a private house for a birthday or a banquet, a ceremonious courtesy, and in the army any action of arms.^[12] Military uses are early in the Americas: in 1685 a soldier of Nuevo León recalls the funciones y jornadas against the enemy.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1899 put the working of an organ first and added the mathematical sense, a quantity whose value depends on another.^[14] The derivatives funcionar and funcionario were condemned by Baralt as gallicisms in 1855, and the Academy admitted both in 1884.^[2][3]

Today the word also means a show or film screening and a village's main festival.^[4] In León it is the patron saint's day, and colloquially a fuss or mess.^[15] In Venezuela it is a nuisance, especially one caused by a child.^[16]

Timeline

• 1582 – Miguel de Urrea's translation of Vitruvius, the first example in the CDH.^[11]
• 1589 – Juan de Pineda uses it for the functions of the organs.^[11]
• 1657 – Valverde, the first record in the DCECH.^[2][3]
• 1683 – first record in the Americas, in the New Kingdom of Granada: esta trabajosa función “this laborious task”.^[13]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the senses “office”, “public act”, “gathering” and “military action”.^[12]
• 1855 – Baralt calls funcionar and funcionario gallicisms.^[2][3]
• 1884 – funcionar and funcionario enter the Academy's dictionary.^[2]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the sense in mathematics.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The capacity to act proper to living things and their organs, and to machines or instruments.^[4][1]
2. A task that belongs to an institution, its bodies or the people in it; a duty or office: Cumplió sus funciones de secretario durante diez años.^[4][1]
3. A solemn act, especially a religious one.^[4]
4. A performance of a show, especially a play, or the screening of a film; also the play or film itself: Llegamos tarde a la función de las ocho.^[4][1]
5. The main festival of a village, or one of its festivities.^[4]
6. (mathematics) A function: a quantity whose value depends on that of one or more variables.^[14][1]
7. (computing) A subroutine that returns a value.^[1]
8. (Venezuela) A nuisance, especially one caused by a child.^[16]

Word family

• funcional
• funcionar
• funcionario
• funcionamiento

Related words

• fungible
• perfunctorio
• French fonction

Usage notes

En funciones means “acting, in the exercise of one's office”.^[17] En función de means “depending on”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. 2, 976
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. función
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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. función
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. functio
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3575
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. fonction
9. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 229
10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. função
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. función
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3
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. función
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 477
15. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. función
16. ^ 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. función
17. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 289