inmaduro

Forms

inmaduro (feminine inmadura, masculine plural inmaduros, feminine plural inmaduras)^[1] The Autoridades spells it immaduro, after the Latin.^[2]

Etymology

Wiktionary treats it as a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin immātūrus (“unripe, immature; untimely”), adapted to the form of maduro.^[1] The Autoridades also derives it from the Latin adjective.^[2] Alemany and the Spanish Wiktionary analyse it instead as formed from Spanish in- + maduro.^[3][4]

That adjective is formed from Latin in- (“not”) + mātūrus (“ripe”).^[5][1] Spanish also has the more Latin form inmaturo, which Corominas lists as a learned word beside the popular one.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Diccionario de Autoridades (volume 4, 1734) defines immaduro as “not in season, or not ripe” and quotes a line from L. Argensola's Rimas: para quitalle la immadura vida “to take away his unripe life”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 19th century the word was felt to be obsolete: Salvá (1846) and the Academy's editions of 1869 and 1884 marked it as old and sent the reader to inmaturo.^[7][8][9] In the 18th-century Americas the form recorded is inmaturo, as in Lima in 1791 (frutos inmaturos).^[10] Today inmaduro is the usual word: the DLE defines it as not yet having reached maturity, and, of people, inexperienced.^[11] Moliner and the Vox apply it to fruit, to projects not yet worked out, and to people without the maturity of their age; medical usage applies it to incomplete physical or mental development.^[12][13][14]

Timeline

• 1734 – the Autoridades records immaduro with a quotation from Argensola.^[2]
• 1791 – frutos inmaturos in Lima, with the other form.^[10]
• 1846 – Salvá marks inmaduro as old, the same as inmaturo.^[7]
• 1884 – the Academy still labels it obsolete.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not yet mature or ripe: frutos inmaduros.^[11][1][12]
2. (also as a noun) Inexperienced; lacking the maturity expected for one's age: Se comporta como un inmaduro.^[11][13]
3. Of a plan or project: not yet worked out.^[12][13]

Word family

• inmadurez

Related words

• maduro
• inmaturo
• prematuro
• Latin immātūrus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 215
3. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 951
4. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. immātūrus
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. maduro
7. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 617
8. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 435
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. 598
10. ^ 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. inmaduro
11. ^ 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. inmaduro
12. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. inmaduro
13. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. inmaduro
14. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. inmaduro