inaccesible

Forms

inaccesible m or f (masculine and feminine plural inaccesibles)^[1] The early texts write inaçesible, inaccessible and inacessible;^[2][3] Autoridades still spelt it inaccessible in 1734.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin inaccessibilis (“unapproachable”), a post-classical word found in Tertullian, Servius and a panegyric of Mamertinus.^[4][1][5] Autoridades in 1734 explained it as a compound of the Latin preposition in and accesible, which is recorded from the first half of the 15th century.^[3][6]

The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and accessibilis (“accessible”), from accessus (“approach, entrance”), the participle of accēdō (“to approach”), which is ad- and cēdō (“to go, yield”).^[1] The same Latin word is French inaccessible, Italian inaccessibile and Portuguese inacessível (about 1541).^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Antonio de Villalpando's Razonamiento de las Reales Armas (1474–1500), in the spelling inaçesible: la inefable & inaçesible luz de la divinidad “the ineffable and inaccessible light of the divinity”.^[2] In 1490 Alfonso de Palencia uses it of a place that cannot be reached, a desert.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The religious phrase of the inaccessible light in which God dwells recurs in Ambrosio Montesino (1508) and Francisco de Osuna (1527), while Bartolomé de las Casas writes of montes inaccesibles, mountains that cannot be crossed.^[2] Autoridades in 1734 defined the word as what cannot be reached, attained or overcome, and gave a moral sense as well;^[3][8] Terreros quoted un corazón inaccesible.^[3][8] The Academy's 1817 edition added the figurative sense of a person who is hard to approach.^[9] Moliner adds the senses “impossible to obtain” and “impossible to understand”.^[10] The first record from the Americas is from Buenos Aires in 1680, ynacesibles montes.^[11]

Timeline

• 1474–1500 – Antonio de Villalpando writes of the inaçesible luz of the divinity.^[2]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia uses logar inaccessible of a desert.^[2]
• 1680 – the first record from the Americas, in Buenos Aires.^[11]
• 1734 – Autoridades defines the word, spelt inaccessible.^[3]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the sense “of a person, hard to approach”.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin inaccessibilis.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not accesible: impossible or very hard to reach or enter: Aquel valle era inaccesible en invierno.^[4][10][1]
2. Impossible to attain or obtain: precios inaccesibles para muchos.^[10]
3. Impossible to understand or learn: un texto inaccesible para los alumnos.^[10]
4. Of a person: hard to approach or speak to; aloof.^[13][9][1]

Related words

• acceso
• acceder
• Late Latin inaccessibilis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. inaccesible
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 234
4. ^ a b 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. inaccesible
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. acceder
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. inacessível
8. ^ a b 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, 332
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 487
10. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. inaccesible
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, p. s.v. inaccesible
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 588
13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. inaccesible