humanista

Forms

humanista m or f by sense (plural humanistas)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Italian umanista, recorded in 1490, from which the word spread to all the modern languages.^[2][3] Bénaben allows either the Italian word or New Latin humanista, attested in 1490, as the source.^[4] Nocentini derives the Italian word from that New Latin form, and explains that in the Italian universities of the second half of the 15th century it named the teacher of the humane letters, the studies that were held to express what is proper to civilised man.^[5] Wiktionary analyses the Italian noun as umano (“human”) with the suffix -ista.^[1]

The Spanish word belongs with humano, taken from Latin hūmānus (“human”) at the end of the 12th century;^[3][2] Corominas relates the Latin adjective to humus (“earth”) and only more distantly to homō (“man”).^[3][2] The related humanismo is a 20th-century word in Spanish, coined in German in 1808.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1613, in Cervantes.^[2][3] The CDH has earlier records: in 1548 Gabriel de Toro explains that reason belongs to man alone among the animals, y por esso se llama humanidad y humanistas los que la estudian “and for that reason it is called humanity, and those who study it humanists”.^[6] The first sense was a scholar of the humane letters.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word named a scholar of Greek and Latin letters: Cieza de León calls a lawyer “very learned in Greek and Latin letters … and a great humanist”, and López de Gómara in 1554 calls Fray Juan Pérez de Marchena of La Rábida a cosmographer and humanist.^[6] Autoridades in 1734 defined the humanist as one who professes erudition, good letters or humanity, quoting Cervantes's Viaje del Parnaso, and Terreros as one who knows, teaches or studies the humane letters.^[7][8] The Academy's 1884 edition made the noun common in gender, for a person of either sex instructed in humane letters.^[9]

Barcia records the German use of the word for those who based education on the humanities, as opposed to the “realists”.^[10] Today the noun also names a follower of humanism, above all Renaissance humanism, and broadly a person of wide culture in the humanities; the adjective means “humanistic”.^[11][12][13] The first record from the Americas is from Lima in 1791.^[14]

Timeline

• 1548 – Gabriel de Toro's Tesoro de misericordia divina y humana calls those who study humanity humanistas.^[6]
• 1554 – López de Gómara calls Fray Juan Pérez de Marchena a cosmographer and humanist.^[6]
• 1613 – Cervantes uses the word, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1734 – Autoridades defines it, quoting Cervantes's Viaje del Parnaso.^[7]
• 1791 – the first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary makes the noun common in gender.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to humanism (humanismo); humanístico: una biblioteca de autores humanistas.^[13][11][12]

Noun

1. A person learned in the humanities or humane letters, especially in the classical languages and literatures.^[13][11][1]
2. A follower of humanism, especially of the Renaissance movement.^[11][12]

Related words

• humano
• humanismo
• humanidad
• Italian umanista

References

1. ^ a b c d 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, 425
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. humano
4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. humanista
5. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. humanista
7. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 189
8. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 315
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 580
10. ^ Barcia, Roque (1880–1883), Primer diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Tipográfico de Álvarez Hermanos, p. 1256
11. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. humanista
12. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. humanista
13. ^ a b c 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. humanista
14. ^ 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. humanista