infancia

Forms

infancia f (plural infancias)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnfantia (“inability to speak; early childhood”), a learned word.^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is formed from īnfāns (“unable to speak; small child”) with the suffix -ia.^[5][1] That word is made of in- (“not”) and fāns (“speaking”), the present participle of for (“to speak”).^[1][2][6] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”), the root also of Ancient Greek φημί (phēmí, “I say”).^[6]

The Latin noun first meant inability to speak or to express oneself, and then the age of childhood, strictly the time before a child can talk.^[5] Its inherited relatives in Spanish are infante, recorded in the Cantar de mio Cid, and infanzón, from Vulgar Latin *infantio of Hispania.^[2][3] The same Latin word is Italian infanzia and French enfance.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is the Libro de Apolonio (c. 1240, in a mid-14th-century copy): perdirás todas las cuytas que prisiste en infançia, “you will lose all the sorrows you suffered in childhood”.^[2][8] The BDELC dates it to the middle of the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts used it for the first of the ages of life: a treatise of about 1370 says that the first age, up to seven years, is called infançia, and the second, up to fourteen, puriçia.^[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it strictly as the age of man before he speaks, though some extended it to youth, and also figuratively as the beginning of things, as in la infancia del mundo.^[9] Terreros stretched it to twelve or fourteen years, but the Academy from 1817 to 1899 kept the limit of seven.^[7][10][11]

The DLE now defines it as the period from birth to puberty, and adds the sense “children as a group”.^[4] Common phrases are jardín de infancia “nursery school” and amigo de la infancia “childhood friend”.^[4][12] In the Americas it is recorded from 1683 in the New Kingdom of Granada.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1240 – infançia in the Libro de Apolonio, known from a mid-14th-century copy.^[2][8]
• c. 1370 – a treatise names infançia as the first age of life, up to seven years.^[8]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin dictionary translates infantia as la niñez.^[14]
• 1683 – first record in the Americas.^[13]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the literal and the figurative sense.^[9]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as the age from birth to seven years.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy first gives the etymology, from Latin infantia.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. childhood: the period of human life from birth to puberty: Pasó su infancia en un pueblo de la costa.^[4][1]
2. Children as a group: un programa de ayuda a la infancia.^[4][12]
3. (figurative) The first stage of something after its birth or foundation; infancy.^[4][1]

Related words

• infante
• infantil
• infanzón
• Latin infantia

Usage notes

Jardín de infancia is a set phrase for a nursery school.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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, 449
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. infante
4. ^ 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. infancia
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b 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 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, 344
8. ^ 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, p. s.v. infancia
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 261
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 492
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 555
12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. infancia
13. ^ 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. infancia
14. ^ 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. infancia
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 595