metro

metro¹ metre

Pronunciation

• /ˈmetɾo/, [ˈme.t̪ɾo]^[1]

Forms

metro m (plural metros)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the measure is borrowed from Latin metrum (“measure, especially of verse”), which is from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”).^[2][3][4] The DLE gives the Greek word as its source.^[5] As the unit of length the word is borrowed from French mètre: the metre was created in France in 1791 as the basis of the decimal metric system.^[2][6][1][7]

The Greek noun is built on Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”) with the instrument suffix -τρον (-tron).^[1] The Latin word survived by inheritance only in dialect words for measures, such as Mozarabic methro “measure” in Mozarabic and Venetian miero, a measure of 25 pounds of oil in Venice.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records are in verse and prose of the early 15th century.^[10] Villasandino (1379–a. 1425, in a copy of about 1465) contrasts writing in metre with prose, nin por metro nin por prosa, and Enrique de Villena (1417) cites the closing metro of the fourth book of Boethius's Consolation.^[10] The BDELC dates the word 1438.^[2] Its first sense is “verse, metrical composition”, as against prose.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija's vocabulary (c. 1495) says it is the same as medida “measure”.^[12] Covarrubias (1611) explains it as “measure”, and among Spaniards as whatever is composed in verse, as opposed to prose; from it, he says, came metrificar “to compose verse”.^[13] The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as “composition in verse”, quoting Juan del Encina: metro no quiere decir otra cosa sino mensura.^[11] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 adds the structure of each kind of verse, as in mudar de metro “to change metre”, and Salvá (1846) the obsolete sense “norm, model”.^[14][15]

Domínguez (1846–1847) describes the metre as the unit of length of the new decimal system used in France.^[16] Monlau records its adoption in Spain by a law of 19 July 1849, and the Academy's dictionary of 1869 defines it as a unit of a little more than three and a half Castilian feet.^[17][18][19] The DLE now defines it by the distance light travels in a vacuum, and it also names a measuring tape or rule and the quantity of material a metre long.^[5][20]

Timeline

• 1379–a. 1425 – Villasandino's poems, in a copy of about 1465, have por metro.^[10]
• 1417 – Enrique de Villena uses it of a verse section of Boethius.^[10][21]
• 1438 – the date given by the BDELC.^[2]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: lo mesmo es que medida.^[12]
• 1611 – Covarrubias opposes it to prose.^[13]
• 1791 – the metre is created in France as a unit of length.^[2][7]
• 1846 – Salvá records the obsolete sense “norm, model”;^[15][16] Domínguez describes the French unit.^[15][16]
• 1849 – a law adopts the metric system in Spain.^[17]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary first defines the unit of length.^[18]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Greek métron.^[22]

Meanings

Noun

1. The metre (US meter), the SI unit of length, now defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299 792 458 of a second; symbol m.^[5][1]
2. A measuring instrument marked in metres and their subdivisions; a tape measure or folding rule: Dame el metro, que voy a medir la puerta.^[5][1][20]
3. A quantity of material one metre long: Compré dos metros de cuerda.^[5]
4. (prosody) The measure of a line of verse; metre: mudar de metro.^[5][1]
5. (prosody) In Greek and Latin verse, a unit of one or two feet.^[5]
6. (obsolete) A norm, model.^[5][15]

metro² underground railway

Pronunciation

• /ˈmetɾo/, [ˈme.t̪ɾo]^[1]

Forms

metro m (plural metros)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the underground railway is a clipping from Spanish metropolitano, in its sense “underground or surface railway of a large city”.^[5][23][24] Wiktionary takes it from French métro, the clipping of métropolitain.^[1] The French word is recorded from 1891, before Paris had such a railway, and the DHLF considers it very probably an anglicism after the London ⟨Metropolitan⟩ railway.^[25] Gómez de Silva likewise thinks the Spanish word was probably inspired by the Paris Métro or by London's Metropolitan District Railway, Bénaben considers a calque of the English name possible, and the Vox dictionary derives the railway sense of the longer word from English metropolitan.^[6][26][27]

Meanings

Noun

1. An urban electric railway that runs wholly or partly underground; a subway, underground: Cada mañana voy al trabajo en metro.^[5][19][1]
2. The stations and installations of this railway: Hay una estación de metro junto a mi casa.^[19]