mitigar

Forms

mitigar (first-person singular present mitigo, first-person singular preterite mitigué, past participle mitigado)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin mītigō (“to make soft or mellow; to soothe”).^[2][3][1] The Latin verb is formed from mītis (“sweet and juicy, soft, gentle”) with the suffix -igō, which goes with agō (“to do, make”).^[4][1][5] The same Latin verb gave French mitiger (about 1355), Italian mitigare and Catalan mitigar.^[6][7]

De Vaan derives the adjective from Proto-Italic *mīti- and Proto-Indo-European *m(e)h₁i-ti- (“soft”), with cognates in Welsh mwydion (“soft parts”) and Old Irish mín (“soft”).^[8] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *meyh₁- (“mild, soft”), but calls the origin unclear.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first records are in the works of Juan Fernández de Heredia (1376–1391): in the Gran crónica de España a quarrel lasts entro ha tanto que entr'ellos fues mitigada la maluolencia “until the ill will between them was soothed”.^[9] Corominas dates the word to 1438.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb is used of feelings: anger, ill will, a passion that cannot be calmed.^[9] The medical sense of easing pain is in a 1494 translation of Ketham's Compendio de la humana salud, and Nebrija (1492) uses mitigar dolor to explain Latin anodinus.^[9][10] A text of 1546 from Santo Domingo says mitigaron su furia “they calmed their fury”.^[11] Autoridades defines it as to moderate, appease, lessen or soften something harsh, the definition the Academy still uses, and quotes Saint Teresa; its participle mitigado named the relaxed rule of a religious order.^[12][3] Today it is used mostly of pain, thirst, heat and the effects of a crisis.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1376–1391 – Juan Fernández de Heredia's Gran crónica de España.^[9]
• 1438 – first record according to Corominas.^[2][15]
• 1494 – used of pain in a medical translation.^[9]
• 1546 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[11]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “to mitigate”.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from mitis and agere.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To mitigate, ease, alleviate or soften something harsh or painful; also reflexive, to ease off: Una infusión caliente le mitigó la tos.^[3][13][1]
2. To moderate, temper: Los árboles mitigan el calor de la tarde..^[13][3]

Word family

• mitigación
• mitigador
• mitigativo

Related words

• Latin mītis
• French mitiger

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mitigar
3. ^ 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. mitigar
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ 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. 708
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mitiger
7. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 375
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. mitigar
10. ^ 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. mitigar
11. ^ 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. mitigar
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 579
13. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mitigar
14. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. mitigar
15. ^ 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. 439
16. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 173