limitación

Forms

limitación f (plural limitaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin līmitātiō (“the fixing of boundaries”), a noun formed on līmitō (“to enclose within boundaries”), itself from līmes (“path between fields; boundary”).^[2][3][4] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of límite, beside limitar, and dates it to 1515.^[5][6] The popular, inherited outcome of the Latin root is linde.^[6]

The same Latin word is Catalan limitació, Portuguese limitação, French limitation and Italian limitazione.^[7][8][9] Portuguese has it from 1446, and Nascentes calls it semi-learned there.^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Becerro of the cathedral of Ávila, of 1303, where a limitación is a district held by the Church: en la limitación de Montalvo.^[11][12] Boundary rulings of 1383 use it for the marking out of a road and its limits.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th and 15th centuries the word meant mainly the boundary or extent of a piece of land;^[13] Fernández de Heredia writes of the limitaçiones & terminos of Asia, Africa and Europe.^[11] In the Americas it meant a restriction from 1538, when a royal decree was applied with a limitation, and sin limitación “without limit” was common.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave only the action of limiting and called it a Latin word.^[4] The Academy's 1884 edition adds the senses “district” and, as obsolete, “boundary of a territory”, which the DLE still lists.^[14][2] Moliner and Segura Munguía note the modern use for a condition that holds something back, or a person's shortcomings, often in the plural.^[15][16]

Timeline

• 1303 – the Becerro of Ávila cathedral uses limitación for a district.^[11][12]
• 1383 – boundary rulings speak of the limitacion et declaracion of a road.^[11]
• 1385 – Fernández de Heredia's Gran crónica de España uses the plural for the bounds of the continents.^[11]
• 1515 – Corominas's first record, in Fernández de Villegas.^[5][6]
• 1538 – the first record from the Americas, in Lima, in the sense “restriction”.^[13]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades calls it a Latin word.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Latin etymology and the senses “district” and “boundary”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or result of limiting: a limitation, restriction: Pidieron una limitación del horario de los bares.^[2][1]
2. A condition or shortcoming that holds something or someone back, often in the plural: Cada equipo conoce sus limitaciones.^[15][16]
3. (rare) A district (distrito) or territory.^[2]
4. (obsolete) The boundary of a territory.^[2][16]

Related words

• limitar
• límite
• linde
• Latin līmitātiō

References

1. ^ a b c 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. limitación
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 409
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 656
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. límite
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
8. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 134
10. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro
11. ^ 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. limitación
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
13. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
14. ^ 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)
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. limitación
16. ^ a b c 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. 375