hechura

Forms

hechura f (plural hechuras)^[1] Old Spanish wrote fechura and ffechura.^[2][3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin factūra (“a making; make, fashion”);^[4][1][5][6] Old Spanish wrote it fechura.^[4][1][5][6] Corominas treats it in the article on hacer, with records from Berceo's praises of the Virgin and the Alexander poem.^[7] The noun is formed from Latin faciō (“to make, do”) + -tūra.^[1][8] In Medieval Latin it also meant “creature”, “make, texture”, “stature” and “charge for making”.^[9][10] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 derived it instead from hecho.^[11]

The same Latin word is Portuguese feitura, Galician feitura, Asturian fechura, Old French faiture “form, creature”, Old Occitan fachura and Italian fattura, the last two also “sorcery”, and Romanian făptură.^{[12][5][13][1]} Spanish borrowed it again from Latin as the learned doublet factura, recorded from 1554.^[1][10][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), which says that Fue Josep de genta fechura “Joseph was of fair shape”.^[15][2] The Fuero de Brihuega (c. 1242) uses it for building work, a husband's share dela fechura of houses built on his wife's land.^[15] Alfonso X uses it for the making of a thing, la fechura del omne & dela mugier “the making of man and woman”, for form and figure, and for sculpted images.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 gave the senses “form” (este vaso es de buena hechura), the price of a craftsman's work apart from the materials, as in the hechuras paid to a tailor, and a person raised by a patron, said to be hechura suya “his creature”.^[16] The Diccionario de Autoridades has the act of making, the thing made, the form of a thing and a statue or sculpted figure, usually of Christ or a saint.^[17] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 records the jocular expression no se pierde más que la hechura, said when something worthless breaks, and no tener hechura “to be unfeasible”, and labels the sense “image” as old.^[18] In Chile hechura was the act of standing someone a drink.^[19][20][21] Today the commonest senses are the making of a garment and the cut or build of a thing or body.^[22][6] It was borrowed as Tagalog hitsura “appearance”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – fechura in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar, known from a 13th-century copy.^[15]
• 1220–1250 – Corominas's first records, in Berceo and the Libro de Alexandre.^[23][7]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General Estoria uses fechura for the creation of man and woman.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses hechura de barro with Latin plasma.^[24]
• 1528 – first records from the Americas, in Nicaragua and Santa Marta, for the making of objects and clothes.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records hechura suya for a person raised by a patron.^[16]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records no se pierde más que la hechura.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action and result of making something; making.^[4][22]
2. Any thing considered in relation to the one who made it; a creation: Aquel desorden era hechura suya.^[4][22]
3. A person in relation to another to whom he owes his post, rank and fortune; a protégé, creature.^[4][16]
4. The build or make-up of the body.^[4][6]
5. The outward form or shape given to something; cut, workmanship.^[4][1]
6. The work of cutting and sewing the cloth of a garment: Le cobraron más por la hechura que por la tela.^[4][22]
7. (often plural) The money paid to a craftsman for making a piece of work.^[4]
8. A carved or modelled image or figure, of wood, clay or another material.^[4]

Related words

• hacer
• hecho
• factura
• Portuguese feitura

Usage notes

Set phrases include no se pierde más que la hechura, said jokingly when something of little value breaks, and no tener hechura “not to be feasible”.^[4][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. hechura
3. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. hechura
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. hechura
5. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 2637
6. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. hechura
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 297
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. factūra
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. factura
10. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. hechura
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 558
12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. factura
13. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. fechura
14. ^ 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. 238
15. ^ 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. hechura
16. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 968
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 135
18. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 463
19. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 876
20. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 466
21. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 108
22. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hechura
23. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hacer
24. ^ 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, p. s.v. hechura
25. ^ 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. hechura