objeto

Forms

objeto m (plural objetos)^[1] The older spelling objecto kept the Latin /k/; the Diccionario de Autoridades notes that the word should etymologically be written so, but that usage had dropped the ⟨c⟩ to soften the pronunciation.^[2] Late medieval texts also have ojecto and objetos.^[3]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin obiectum (“something placed before; an object”), first recorded in 1438 according to Corominas.^[4][5][1] The Academy derives it from the participle obiectus (“thrown before, opposed”), and Corominas names the Scholastic Latin noun as the immediate source.^[6][4] The Latin noun is the neuter of the past participle of obiciō (“to throw before, to oppose, to put forward”), which in philosophical Latin, as early as Cicero, meant something presented to the senses.^[7][1] That verb is formed from Latin ob- (“towards, against”) + iaciō (“to throw”).^[1][8]

The same Latin word gave Portuguese objeto, Catalan objecte, Italian oggetto and French objet.^[9][10][11] Spanish has a whole family of learned words from compounds of the same verb: objeción, objetar, sujeto, proyecto and adjetivo.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to 1438; the CDH has earlier hits in San Vicente Ferrer's sermons of 1411–1412 (in a copy of 1448) and in the poems of Francisco Imperial (before 1409, in a copy of about 1465), and its earliest date is 1293, for a passage of the Castigos in manuscript 6559 of the Biblioteca Nacional.^[4][3][12] The early uses are Scholastic: the objecto of a faculty or act is what it is directed at, as glory is the object of contemplation in a sermon of 1411–1412.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades gave three senses: what is perceived by a sense, the end of the acts of the faculties, and the aim of an action.^[2] The Academy's later editions added the subject matter of a science (el objeto de la teología es Dios) and, as obsolete, an objection or challenge.^[13][14] In the Americas the word is recorded from 1601, in Buenos Aires, in that legal sense of an objection (ojetos).^[15] From 1683 it is used there for things seen and for an aim.^[15] Today the most common sense is a material thing, usually not large; grammar uses it for the direct object, and it is used in apposition (mujer objeto) for a person treated only as a means of satisfaction.^[6][16][17]

Timeline

• 1411–1412 – San Vicente Ferrer's sermons use objecto (in a copy of 1448).^[3]
• 1438 – first record according to Corominas.^[4]
• 1601 – first record in the Americas, in Buenos Aires.^[15]
• 1726 – the derivative objetivo is first recorded.^[4]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the word and notes the spelling objecto.^[2][18]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, Latin obiectus.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. Anything that can be the object of knowledge or perception by a subject, including the subject itself.^[6]
2. What the mental faculties work on; the matter or subject of a science or study.^[6]
3. The aim or purpose of an action: Vine con el objeto de hablar con usted.^[6][1]
4. A material thing, usually not large: Encontraron un objeto metálico en la arena.^[6][16]
5. (grammar) The direct object; the patient of a verb.^[6]
6. (obsolete) An objection (objeción) or challenge.^[6]

Word family

• cubreobjetos

Related words

• objeción
• objetivo
• objetar
• sujeto
• Latin obiectum

Usage notes

The phrases con objeto de and al objeto de “in order to” are common; the Chilean purist Román rejected al objeto de in favour of a fin de.^[19][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 4
3. ^ 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, p. s.v. objeto
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. abyecto
5. ^ 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. 331
6. ^ 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. objeto
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. objeto
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2361
10. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. objecte
11. ^ 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, 685
12. ^ 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. objeto
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 606
14. ^ 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. 750
15. ^ a b c 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. objecto
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. objeto
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. objeto
18. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. paca
19. ^ 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. 50