microscopio

Forms

microscopio m (plural microscopios)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin microscopium, a scientific Latin compound of Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) and -scopium, from Ancient Greek σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at, examine”).^[2][1][3] The DTME says the Latin word was coined in 1625 by G. Faber.^[4] Gómez de Silva gives 1656 for English and French microscope; within Spanish the word is analysed as micro- and -scopio.^[5][6][7]

Beekes takes the Greek adjective, with its variants σμικρός (smikrós) and μικκός (mikkós), to be of Pre-Greek origin.^[8][1] Wiktionary reports the traditional derivation from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyg- (“small, thin”), which leaves the /k/ unexplained.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the CDH is in the Mexican scholar Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora's Libra astronómica y filosófica (1690), which speaks of using microscopios ingleses “English microscopes”.^[9] This antedates the BDELC's date of 1709.^[3] Dicciomed gives 1654 for the neologism.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Feijoo used the word often in his Teatro crítico universal from 1726, also figuratively: el microscopio de el amor “the microscope of love” magnifies everything it looks at.^[9] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as a dioptric instrument and distinguished simple microscopes, with one lens, from compound ones, with two or more lenses in a tube.^[11] The Academy's 1817 edition added the solar microscope.^[12] In 1899 it gave the etymology from the Greek words for “small” and “to look at, examine”.^[13]

Records from the Americas follow from 1778 in Mexico and 1791 in Lima.^[14] The modern DLE adds the electron microscope and the scanning tunnelling microscope.^[2]

Timeline

• 1690 – Sigüenza y Góngora's Libra astronómica y filosófica, in Mexico, mentions English microscopes.^[9]
• 1709 – the BDELC's first date.^[3]
• 1726 – Feijoo's Teatro crítico universal uses the word figuratively.^[9]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades describes simple and compound microscopes.^[11]
• 1778 – a letter from Mexico mentions a microscope sent to its writer.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy adds microscopio solar.^[12]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the Greek etymology.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A microscope: an optical instrument for observing objects too small to be seen with the naked eye: Observó la muestra de sangre con el microscopio.^[2][1][7]

Word family

• microscópico

Related words

• micro-
• -scopio
• telescopio
• New Latin microscopium

Usage notes

Microscopio electrónico is an electron microscope, which uses electrons instead of light, and microscopio de efecto túnel a scanning tunnelling microscope.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. microscopio
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. micro-
4. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. microscopio
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 462
6. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. microscopio
7. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. microscopio
8. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Cortés Gabaudan, Francisco (dir.), Dicciomed: Diccionario médico-biológico, histórico y etimológico, Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, https://dicciomed.usal.es, p. s.v. microscopio
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 563
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 572
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 658
14. ^ 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. microscopio