literatura

Forms

literatura f (plural literaturas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin litterātūra (“writing; grammar; learning”).^[2][3][1] Corominas counts it among the learned words of the family of letra.^[2] The Latin noun is formed from littera (“letter”) with the suffix -ūra.^[4][1] It meant the use of letters, writing and the alphabet, then instruction in grammar and the elements of learning.^[4][5] Medieval Latin used it for literature, learning and the literal sense of a text.^[6]

Before it, Old Spanish said letradura in this sense, in the Castigos of Sancho IV, in Don Juan Manuel and in the Libro de los enxemplos.^[2][7] French had a similar popular form, lettreüre, before French littérature.^[8] The same Latin word gave Portuguese literatura, Catalan literatura and Italian letteratura.^[9][10][11]

The origin of the Latin word for “letter” is unknown: de Vaan rejects the old derivation from linō (“to smear”), and Wiktionary mentions a route through Etruscan from Ancient Greek διφθέρα (diphthéra, “tablet”).^[12][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's earliest hit is from 1487, in Hernando de Talavera's Católica impugnación, where literatura is the letter of the law of Moses, la letra que mata “the letter that kills”.^[7] Corominas dates the word from Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario of 1490, which uses it for the grammatical form of a Latin verb.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

For three centuries the word meant learning, knowledge of letters: colonial documents praise a cleric's distinguida literatura (Cuzco, 1669) or deplore people of casi ninguna literatura (Cartagena, 1683).^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as the knowledge and science of letters, and the Academy's dictionaries of 1817 and 1843 as the knowledge of letters or of the humanities.^[14][15][16] Domínguez in 1846 already gave the body of works of the writers of a country.^[17] The Academy's 1884 edition was the first to define it as the art that seeks to express beauty through words, covering poetry, the novel, oratory and history.^[18]

The modern dictionary adds the body of writings on a subject (literatura médica), a body of music for one instrument, and the colloquial sense of empty talk.^[3] In Puerto Rico literatura is also used, under English influence, for a bibliography.^[19]

Timeline

• 1487 – Hernando de Talavera, the first record of literatura.^[7]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario.^[2][7]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary.^[7]
• 1669 – first record in the Americas, in Cuzco, in the sense “learning”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it as an art of words for the first time.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. literature: the art of verbal expression.^[3][20][1]
2. The body of literary works of a nation, a period or a genre: la literatura medieval.^[3][21]
3. The body of writings on a particular subject: la literatura sobre el cambio climático.^[3][20]
4. Knowledge of literature, and a treatise setting out such knowledge.^[3]
5. (colloquial) Empty talk, verbiage.^[3]
6. (music) The body of works written for an instrument or ensemble.^[3]
7. (obsolete) The theory of literary composition.^[3]

Related words

• letra
• literario
• literato
• literal
• letrado
• Latin litterātūra

Usage notes

Literatura de cordel is the popular literature of chapbooks hung on a string for sale.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 636
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. literatura
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. litterātūra
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. litteratura
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. litteratura
7. ^ 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. literatura
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. littérature
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. literatura
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. literatura
11. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 425
12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. literatura
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 532
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 442
17. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1098
18. ^ 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. 649
19. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. literatura
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. literatura
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. literatura