manifestación

Forms

manifestación f (plural manifestaciones)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin manifestātiō (“a manifesting, revelation”), a post-classical noun.^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it under mano with the other learned words of the family, beside the verb manifestar, first recorded in Berceo.^[4] DICCA-XV treats it as a derivative of the Spanish verb.^[5]

The Latin noun is formed from manifestō (“to make public, show”) and the suffix -tiō, and the verb from the adjective manifestus (“evident, plain”).^[1] De Vaan reports Leumann's derivation of the adjective from a phrase with the ablative of manus (“hand”), shortened in the compound; it may have meant “caught by hand”, and the second element is uncertain.^[6][1] The same Latin word is Catalan manifestació, Portuguese manifestação and French manifestation.^[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel's first primary record is a charter of 1261 with manifestaciones; it also lists the Aragonese law code Vidal Mayor of about 1250 from a secondary source.^[9] In a Zaragoza document of 1331 the word is a sworn declaration of one's property: aquella manifestacion que façe de sus bienes “that declaration he makes of his goods”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Juan Fernández de Heredia, in the late 14th century, used it for the Epiphany, la apparicion o manifestacion of Christ.^[10] Corominas's first record is Nebrija, who gives Latin manifestatio and patefactio.^[4][5] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as the declaring and uncovering of something hidden, and records the Aragonese legal sense: a writ of the lieutenants of the Justicia of Aragon placing a person or goods under its protection so that justice would be done.^[11] The Academy added in 1884 the Zaragoza prison of that name and the sense of a public gathering, which Alemany in 1917 described as a collective expression of an opinion, usually in the open air.^[12][13] Today this “demonstration, protest march” is a main sense, colloquially clipped to mani or manifa.^[2][1] In medicine it is a symptom or sign of a disease, and in Chile a banquet in someone's honour.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1261 – the first primary record in DEMel, a charter with manifestaciones.^[9]
• 1331 – a Zaragoza document uses it for a declaration of property.^[10]
• 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia uses it of the Epiphany.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's vocabulary, Corominas's first record.^[4][16]
• 1542 – the first record from the Americas, in Puebla, for a registration fee paid on slaves.^[17]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the Aragonese legal sense.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “public gathering” and gives the Latin etymology.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A manifestation: the act or result of showing, declaring or revealing something, or of becoming apparent.^[2][1]
2. A demonstration: a public gathering, usually marching through the streets, to demand something or protest: Miles de personas acudieron a la manifestación contra el cierre del hospital.^[2][1][18]
3. (medicine) A symptom (síntoma) or sign of a disease.^[14]
4. (history, Aragon) A writ issued by the lieutenants of the Justicia of Aragon to those who asked its protection, so that their cases would be tried according to law.^[2][11]
5. (history) The name of a prison in Zaragoza, also called cárcel de la libertad, for prisoners under the protection of the law of Aragon.^[2]
6. (Chile) A banquet or celebration in honour of someone or to commemorate something.^[15]

Word family

• mani
• manifa

Related words

• manifestante
• manifestar
• manifiesto
• Latin manifestātiō

Usage notes

Manifestación naval is a show of force by a nation's warships in peacetime, in support of diplomatic demands.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. manifestación
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. manifestatio
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 817
5. ^ 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. manifestación
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. manifestació
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. manifestação
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. manifestación
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. manifestación
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. manifestación
12. ^ 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. 671
13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1079
14. ^ a b Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. manifestación
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. manifestación
16. ^ 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. 404
17. ^ 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. manifestación
18. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. manifestación