herramienta

Forms

herramienta f (plural herramientas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish ferramienta, inherited from Vulgar Latin ferrāmenta (“iron tools”), the neuter plural of Latin ferrāmentum (“an iron implement or tool”).^[2][3][1][4] The medieval records have ⟨f⟩, and Nebrija is the first to write the word with ⟨h⟩.^[2]

The Latin noun is formed from ferrum (“iron”) with the suffix -mentum.^[5][1] De Vaan considers the Latin word for iron a loanword from an unidentified source, possibly a Phoenician dialect.^[6]

The same plural is Portuguese ferramenta, Galician ferramenta, Catalan ferramenta, Occitan ferramenta and Italian ferramenta, and the singular gave French ferrement.^[7][4] Asturian keeps the old form ferramienta, “tool; set of teeth”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In La fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy) no hammer, axe or nulla ferramienta, “any tool”, was heard while Solomon built the house of God.^[8] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) punishes a smith who sells a hoe, a sickle, an axe o otra ferramienta quebrada, “or another broken tool”, as sound.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word named the iron tools of a trade, singly or as a set.^[8][9] Autoridades also used it for the iron fittings of a coach or bed, and, jokingly, for the horns of cattle and deer.^[9] The Academy added the teeth in 1817, and marked the sense “iron fittings” as old by 1843.^[10][11] Bénaben notes the widening from iron tools to any tool, and to an herramienta informática, a computer tool.^[12]

Colloquially it also means a knife or other blade, and the slang dictionaries add a bull's horn.^[3][13][14] Today the DLE also gives the sense “a means to an end”, and máquina herramienta is a machine tool.^[3][15] In much of the Americas the word fierro is used for a tool, beside herramienta.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – ferramienta in La fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy).^[8]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes.^[8]
• c. 1250 – the Aragonese Vidal Mayor has the form ferramenta.^[8]
• 1251 – the Calila e Dimna, the DCECH's first record.^[2][16]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses ferramientas for the builders' tools.^[17]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija writes herramienta, Latin ferramentum;^[18][16] herramental is first recorded in the same year.^[18][16]
• 1512 – first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[19]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades adds the iron fittings of an object and an animal's horns.^[9]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the figurative sense “teeth”.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. ferramenta”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tool or implement, usually of iron or steel, used by a craftsman.^[3][1]
2. (collective) A set of tools: Dejó la herramienta en la furgoneta.^[3][13]
3. A means or instrument for doing something or reaching an aim: La estadística es una herramienta útil para el periodista.^[3]
4. (colloquial) A knife or other bladed weapon.^[3][21][13]
5. (colloquial) The horns of an animal such as a bull or a deer.^[21][13]
6. (colloquial) The teeth of a person or animal.^[21][13]
7. (obsolete) The iron fittings of an object; herraje.^[21][13]

Word family

• herramental
• máquina herramienta

Related words

• hierro
• herrar
• herrero
• Portuguese ferramenta

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 355
3. ^ 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. herramienta
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ferramentum
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. ferrāmentum
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ferramentum
8. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. herramienta
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 146
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 466
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 385
12. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. herramienta
13. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. herramienta
14. ^ Besses, Luis (c. 1905), Diccionario de argot español o lenguaje jergal gitano, delincuente profesional y popular, Barcelona: Manuel Soler, p. 93
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. herramienta
16. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hierro
17. ^ 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. herramienta
18. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 362
19. ^ 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. herramienta
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 562
21. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. herramienta