meseta

Forms

meseta f (plural mesetas)^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive formed from Spanish mesa + -eta.^[2][1][3][4] The base word is taken in the sense of raised flat land or of the flat part of a staircase.^[1][5] It continues Latin mēnsa (“table”).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel has one medieval record, in Aragonese inventories of 1389–1397.^[8] The CDH's first record is Fray Pedro de Aguado's history of Santa Marta and the New Kingdom of Granada (c. 1573–1581), which describes vna meseta llana “a flat tableland” half a league round in a valley; the DTME also dates the word from 1573.^[9][4]

Semantic evolution

In the Americas the sense “level ground on a height” is recorded in New Granada in 1635 and in Venezuela, Peru and Argentina in the 18th and early 19th centuries, often beside descanso “resting place”.^[10] Terreros gave three senses: the landing of a staircase, the board of a winepress on which the grapes are pressed, and a term of geometry.^[11] The Academy recorded only the landing in 1817 and 1843, and added the plain on the top of a height in 1869.^[12][13][14] The DLE now puts the geographical sense first, a broad plain at a considerable height above sea level, and has the bullring phrase meseta del toril, the flat place above the bull pens.^[2] Cuba and the Dominican Republic use it for a kitchen worktop, and medicine for a phase or part of a graph with no change.^[15][16][4]

Timeline

• c. 1573–1581 – Fray Pedro de Aguado uses it for a flat tableland in New Granada.^[9]
• 1635 – recorded again in New Granada.^[10]
• 1748 – Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa use it in their accounts of Peru.^[9]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records the staircase, winepress and geometry senses.^[11]
• 1817 – the Academy defines it as the landing of a staircase.^[12]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the plain on the top of a height.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plateau, a broad plain (planicie) at a considerable height above sea level: La ciudad se levanta en el borde de la meseta.^[2][17][1]
2. The landing of a staircase, the level part where a flight ends (rellano).^[2][17]
3. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) A kitchen worktop over the lower cupboards.^[15][16]
4. (medicine) A phase of a process, or a part of a graph, in which no change is seen.^[4]

Related words

• mesa
• Latin mensa

Usage notes

Meseta del toril is the flat place above the bull pens of a bullring, and the seats there.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. meseta
3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. meseta
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. meseta
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. meseta
6. ^ 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. mesa
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4269
8. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. meseta
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. meseta
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. meseta
11. ^ a b 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, 574
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 570
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 474
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 506
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. meseta
16. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. meseta
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. meseta