hábil

Forms

hábil m or f (masculine and feminine plural hábiles, superlative habilísimo)^[1] Old Spanish wrote the word ábile, ávile or habil; the form hábil is in the Quijote.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin habilis (“easy to handle; well fitted, apt”), a learned word.^[2][4][5][1] The Latin adjective is formed from habeō (“to have, hold”) with the suffix -ilis.^[6][1] Wiktionary also allows a formation with -bilis, shortened by haplology.^[1] The Latin verb is the source of haber, under which Corominas treats the word.^[2][7]

It was borrowed in the same way as Catalan hàbil, Portuguese hábil, French habile and Italian abile.^{[8][9][10][11]} The French word replaced the inherited Old French able, the source of able.^[10][1] The REW lists only that Old French word and Catalan abi as popular descendants.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is Juan Fernández de Heredia's Historia troyana (1376–1396), where night is habil pora mesclar et firmar las cosas secretas “fit for mixing and sealing secret things”.^[3] A document of León cathedral (1419–1426) lets the chapter choose six students que sean ábiles e aptos para aprender la sçiençia “who are able and fit to learn”.^[3] Corominas's first record is in A. de la Torre, about 1440.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant both “fit, suitable” and “capable”: the Corbacho (1438) calls phlegmatic men the most áviles for the art of love, and Juan de Mena (c. 1439) doubts that he is ábile enough to climb the mountain.^[3] Alfonso de Palencia uses it of one able to lead troops.^[2] Nebrija glosses ábile cosa with Latin habilis, aptus and idoneus, and ábile para letras with docilis.^[13]

Salvá recorded the legal sense “within the limits set by law”, as in tiempo hábil and términos hábiles,^[14] and the Academy's 1899 edition defined it as capable, intelligent and ready for any task, with a legal sense “fit for something”, as in hábil para contratar.^[15] The DLE now separates manual skill, talent for reaching one's ends, and the period of time valid for official business, as in días hábiles.^[5] In the Americas it is recorded from 1520, in Darién: es persona hábile.^[16]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's Historia troyana.^[3]
• 1419–1426 – a document of León cathedral: ábiles e aptos.^[3]
• 1438 – the Corbacho has the spelling áviles.^[3]
• c. 1440 – A. de la Torre, Corominas's first record.^[2][4]
• 1495 – first record of inhábil and inhabilitar.^[4]
• 1520 – first record from the Americas, in Darién.^[16]
• 1737 – first record of rehabilitar.^[4]
• 1846 – Salvá records the legal sense in tiempo hábil.^[14]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin habilis.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. skilful, deft: able to do a manual task well: Es muy hábil con la aguja.^[5][1]
2. Gifted with the talent to act well and reach one's ends; clever: Un abogado muy hábil.^[5][17]
3. Showing such skill: una hábil maniobra.^[5][17]
4. Fit or suitable for something.^[5][17][1]
5. (law) Of a period of time: valid for carrying out official, especially administrative or judicial, business: días hábiles.^[5][1]

Word family

• hábilmente
• habilidoso
• inhábil

Related words

• habilidad
• habilitar
• rehabilitar
• haber
• Latin habilis
• English able

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. 3, 294
3. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. hábil
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. haber
5. ^ 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. hábil
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. hábil
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. hàbil
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. hábil
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 333
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
13. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
14. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 572
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 514
16. ^ 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. hábil
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hábil