impotente

Forms

impotente m or f (masculine and feminine plural impotentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin impotēns (“powerless, weak”).^[2][1] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the article on poder and dates it to Nebrija, and impotencia to the Corbacho and Nebrija.^[3]

This adjective is formed from Latin in- (“not”) + potēns (“powerful”).^[1][4] potēns served as the present participle of possum (“to be able”), which Wiktionary analyses as potis (“able, master”) with sum (“to be”).^[5][1] De Vaan derives the adjective from Proto-Indo-European *pót-i-, the word for “master, lord”, with a cognate in Ancient Greek πόσις (pósis, “husband”).^[6] In Latin the word meant “powerless, weak”, and also “unable to control oneself, unrestrained, violent”.^[7]

The same Latin word gave Catalan impotent, French impotent, Italian impotente and Portuguese impotente.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in the translations of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1376–1396): in his Orosius the Romans feel themselves mas flacos et impotentes que sus enemigos “weaker and more powerless than their enemies”, and in his Secreto de los secretos the stomach is flaco et inpotente pora cozer la uianda “weak and unable to digest the food”.^[9] DICCA-XV dates it in Aragon from 1460–1463.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija (c. 1495) glossed it as “a thing not powerful”, and the Corominas and Segura date of 1495 is his.^[10][3][7] The sexual sense is recorded by 1494, in the translation of Ketham's Compendio de la humana salud, and in Mexico in 1575 (impotentes para engendrar).^[9][11] Covarrubias (1611) says that in Castilian the word means one unfit for generation.^[12] Autoridades (1734) has both senses, quoting Nebrija's chronicle of King Henry, who was found impotente para engendrar “impotent to beget”.^[13]

The Academy's 1843 edition defined it first as “who has no power” and then as the person unable to beget or conceive.^[14] The DLE now distinguishes the man unable to have intercourse and the person unable to beget or conceive.^[2] Moliner notes the constructions with para and contra.^[15]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – first records, in the translations of Juan Fernández de Heredia.^[9]
• 1494 – the translation of Ketham's medical Compendio uses the sexual sense.^[9][16]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija enters it with Latin impotens.^[10]
• 1558 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico, of helpless Indians.^[11]
• 1611 – Covarrubias gives the sexual sense as the Castilian one.^[12]
• 1734 – Autoridades has both senses.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy defines it first as “who has no power”.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. powerless, lacking the power or strength to do something; helpless: Los vecinos se sintieron impotentes ante la riada.^[2][1][15]
2. (of a man; also as a noun) Unable to have sexual intercourse, impotent.^[2][1]
3. (also as a noun) Unable to beget or conceive; sterile.^[2]

Related words

• impotencia
• potente
• poder
• potencia
• prepotente
• Latin impotēns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. impotente
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 588
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ a b 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. 599
8. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 781
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
10. ^ a b c 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. impotente
11. ^ 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
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1, 1040
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 230
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 401
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. impotente
16. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org