máxima

Forms

máxima f (plural máximas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin maxima (“maxim, rule”).^[2][3][1] Du Cange glosses the Medieval Latin noun as an accepted sentence or rule, and notes that the French and English call it maxime and maxim.^[4] It is the feminine of maximus (“greatest”) used as a noun: Gómez de Silva understands prōpositiō (“proposition”), a fundamental proposition, and Bénaben sententia (“sentence”).^[5][6] Corominas treats it with máximo, from the same Latin adjective, in the article mayor.^[7]

The Latin adjective is the superlative of magnus (“great”).^[8][5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Don Juan Manuel's Libro del cavallero et del escudero (1326, in a copy of about 1400) equates the terms of several sciences: what the grammarians call rules, dizen los logicos maximas “the logicians call maxims”, and the physicians aphorisms.^[9] The first sense is thus a principle accepted in a science.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century Moses Arragel's Bible of Alba speaks of holding certain causes por maximas “as maxims”.^[9] The phrase haber por máxima “to take as a principle” is found in the Americas from 1539.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a sentence, axiom or principle of an art or science, also as a person's idea or purpose (es hombre de máximas), and as the longest note of music, worth eight bars in common time.^[11] The Academy's 1817 edition gave the order kept by the DLE: a rule accepted by those who practise a discipline, a moral sentence or apophthegm, and a principle of conduct.^[12][2] From 1843 the note was said to be worth two longs.^[13]

Timeline

• 1326 – Juan Manuel says that logicians call maximas what grammarians call rules.^[9]
• 1422–1433 – Moses Arragel's translation of the Bible uses maximas.^[9]
• 1539 – the first record from the Americas, in New Granada: habido esto por máxima.^[10]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records the musical note.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy gives the senses of rule, moral sentence and principle of conduct.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin maxima.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rule, principle or proposition generally accepted by those who practise an art or science.^[2][1]
2. A maxim: a sentence, apophthegm or doctrine that serves to guide moral conduct.^[2][16]
3. An idea, rule or aim that one's conduct follows: Su máxima era no prestar dinero a nadie.^[2][16]
4. (music) A note of early music equal to two longs.^[2]

Related words

• máximo
• máxime
• mayor
• Latin maximus

Usage notes

Máxima in the sense “the highest temperature recorded in a period” is the feminine of máximo used as a noun.^[16][17][1] Moliner treats it, with the musical note, as a separate word from máxima “maxim”.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. máxima
3. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. máxima
4. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. 5, 314
5. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. máxima
6. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. máxima
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 890
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. máxima
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. máxima
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. máxima
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 561
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 466
14. ^ 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, 546
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. 686
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. máxima
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. máxima