moda

Forms

moda f (plural modas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French mode (“fashion; custom”), a feminine noun in French since the 15th century.^[2][3][1] Vox dates the borrowing to the 18th century, and the French sense of passing collective taste in dress to the 15th.^[4] French took the word from Latin modus (“measure; manner”) around 1393 and made it feminine because of its final ⟨-e⟩; its first sense was “the way of living or thinking of a country or an age”.^[5] The DTME dates the French sense “usage, custom” from 1452.^[6]

It is thus a doublet of modo, the learned form of the same Latin word.^[1][7] Portuguese moda has the same French origin.^[7] The Latin word is from Proto-Italic *modos, from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates moda to around 1700.^[2] The first record from the Americas, from Mexico in 1716, still has the general sense “manner, custom”: los enterraron a su moda “they buried them in their own way”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades defined moda as a usage or custom, especially a newly introduced one, and above all in dress, quoting vestido a la moda Phrygia “dressed in the Phrygian fashion”.^[9] Terreros added la gran moda for the newest and most striking fashion, and gave French mode and Italian moda as its equivalents.^[10] The Academy recorded entrar en las modas, to follow the fashions and customs of the place where one lives, by 1817, and by 1869 also el imperio de la moda, the hold that the love of such changes has over society.^[11][12]

Today the word names a passing collective taste in any field, and above all the changing taste in clothes and the clothes themselves.^[3][13] The statistical sense, the most frequent value in a set of data, follows French, where it dates from the end of the 19th century.^[6][3] The derivatives modista (1817) and modisto (1914) name people who make clothes.^[2]

Timeline

• 1499 – an isolated earlier phrase, a moda de estrellas “in the pattern of stars”, in Fernández de Santaella's Vocabulario eclesiástico.^[14]
• c. 1700 – first record of moda as a borrowing from French.^[2]
• 1716 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as a new usage, especially in dress.^[9]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records la gran moda.^[10]
• 1817 – the Academy records entrar en las modas; modista is first recorded.^[11][2]
• 1884 – the Academy first gives the etymology “Del fr. mode”.^[15]
• 1914 – first record of modisto.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A usage, custom or way of doing things that is popular for a time or in a certain country; a fad: Esa manera de hablar fue una moda pasajera.^[3][1]
2. fashion: the collective, changing taste in clothes and accessories.^[3][1]
3. The clothes and accessories that are in fashion: una tienda de moda infantil.^[3]
4. (statistics) The mode: the value that occurs most often in a set of data.^[3][1]

Word family

• modista
• modisto

Related words

• modal
• modo
• Latin modus
• French mode

Usage notes

De moda means “fashionable, in vogue” (estar de moda, ponerse de moda), and pasado de moda “out of fashion”.^[3][1] Román records the Chilean hacerse de moda beside hacerse moda and estar de moda, and the proverb lo que es moda no incomoda, which he thought deserved a place in the Academy's dictionary.^[16]

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 Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. modo
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. moda
4. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. moda
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. mode
6. ^ 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. moda
7. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4394
8. ^ 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. moda
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 583
10. ^ 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, 598
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 578
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 514
13. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. moda
14. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. moda
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 710
16. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 28