lección

Forms

lección f (plural lecciones)^[1] Old Spanish has the phonetic variants lición (in the Libro de Alexandre and the Partidas, still common in the Golden Age and today a popular form) and leción, the form Nebrija preferred;^[2][3] Covarrubias wrote lección.^[4] Medieval texts also write lectión, leçion and licçión.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lēctiō (“reading”), a learned word that Corominas records first in Berceo.^[4][5][6][1] The Latin noun is formed on legō (“to gather; to read”) with the suffix -tiō.^[7][8] It first meant “gathering” and “picking out, selection”, then “reading, reading aloud”.^[7][9] Medieval Latin used it for the wording of a text, a version, and for the passages of Scripture read in the liturgy.^[10]

The same Latin word is Italian lezione, French leçon, Portuguese lição, Catalan lliçó and Asturian lleición.^{[11][12][13][14]} The verb goes back to *leǵ- (“to collect”), the root of Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to collect, count; to speak”).^[15] The popular Spanish descendant of the verb is leer.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Berceo's Del sacrificio de la misa (1228–1246, in an early 14th-century copy) the priest is to read primeramientre la lición consegrada “first the consecrated reading”, a passage of Scripture read in the Mass.^[3] In his Vida de San Millán como diz' la lección “as the reading says” refers to the written text the poet follows.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The liturgical sense, the passages read at Mass and at matins, is the oldest: the Partidas of Alfonso X want the lector to read prophecias & lecciones clearly.^[16] The teaching sense appears in the same century: the Estoria de España (1270–1284) tells of questions put to the masters about la licion que leye de dia “the lesson he read by day”, since teaching consisted in reading a text out and explaining it.^[16][17] Nebrija distinguished lecion del que lee, Latin lectio, from lecion que da el dicipulo, the lesson a pupil recites.^[18]

The Diccionario de Autoridades gave three senses: the act of reading, the portion of a subject a master explains each day, and teaching or instruction in general.^[19] Later dictionaries added the reading or interpretation of a text, the moral lesson drawn from an event, and the chapters of a textbook.^[6][20] Today the sense “reading” survives mainly in literary and philological use (Silva de varia lección, a book title found in a Mexican inventory of 1572), while the usual sense is a lesson or class.^[21][22]

Timeline

• 1228–1246 – Berceo writes of la lición consegrada read at Mass.^[3]
• 1256–1300 – the Partidas speak of the lector who reads lecciones in church.^[16]
• 1270–1284 – the Estoria de España uses licion for a lesson given by a master.^[16]
• 1293 – the Castigos have leçion for a teaching taken from Christ, the first record in a manuscript of its own date.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives lecion with Latin lectio and dictatum.^[18]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Puebla: a vigil con sus tres liçiones.^[21]
• 1628 – first record of the derived verb aleccionar, as alicionar.^[4][5]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that some say lición.^[19]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology lectio, lectiōnis.^[23]

Meanings

Noun

1. reading, the action of reading.^[6]
2. A reading of a text: the way someone understands it, or one of the different forms in which it has come down: la lección del manuscrito más antiguo.^[6]
3. A lesson: the instruction a teacher gives to pupils at one time, a class: tomaba lecciones de piano los martes.^[6][1][22]
4. What the teacher sets the pupil to study at one time: no se sabía la lección.^[6]
5. A warning, event or example that teaches others: el accidente le sirvió de lección.^[6][1]
6. Each of the chapters or parts into which some writings, such as textbooks, are divided.^[6][22]
7. (religion) Each of the passages from Scripture, the Church Fathers or the lives of the saints read or sung at Mass and at matins.^[6][1]
8. (rare) A discourse prepared within a set time on a topic drawn by lot, and then delivered in public, in competitive examinations for chairs or benefices.^[6]

Word family

• aleccionar
• leccionario
• leccionista

Related words

• elección
• leer
• lector
• lectura
• Latin lēctiō
• French leçon

Usage notes

Lección magistral is a lecture given on a solemn academic occasion or as part of a competitive examination, and lección inaugural the lecture that opens the academic year.^[6][24] In the old school phrases dar la lección was said of the pupil reciting it to the teacher, and tomar la lección of the teacher hearing it.^[24]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. lección
3. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. lección
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 619
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. leer
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. lección
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 417
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. lectio
12. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. lição
13. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. lliçó
14. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. lleición
15. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
16. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. lección
17. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. lição
18. ^ a b 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. lección
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 374
20. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1015
21. ^ 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. lección
22. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lección
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 592
24. ^ 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. 361