público

Forms

público (feminine pública, masculine plural públicos, feminine plural públicas)^[1] The early charters write pupligo (954), publigo (1030) and puplicu (1042); públigo and póbligo were still in use in the 13th century, and a transposed púlvego also existed.^[2] The DEMel records the Old Spanish spellings publico, poblico, publiga and public.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pūblicus (“official, public”), a learned word.^[2][4][5][1] The oldest Spanish records have forms such as pupligo and póbligo; the modern form occurs several times in Juan Ruiz and is the usual one from Alfonso de Palencia and Nebrija on.^[2] Corominas holds that the forms with ⟨p⟩ and those with ⟨o⟩ are not mere hypercorrections, but come from a popular association with populus (“people”), although he doubts that the two Latin words are really related.^[2] A transposed form púlvego may lie behind the place name ⟨Sepúlveda⟩, and has parallels in Old Catalan pulvega (a charter of 1150) and Old Galician-Portuguese púlvego.^[2] Popular descendants of the Latin word are rare in Romance; the REW lists dialect forms such as Old Tuscan piuvico and Old Portuguese pruvico (“wretched”).^[6]

Wiktionary derives the Latin adjective from Old Latin poplicus, from poplus, the older form of the noun, which goes back to Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”).^[1][7] The change from ⟨-op-⟩ to ⟨-ūb-⟩ is traditionally put down to the influence of pūbēs (“adult population”); others explain it as a regular sound change.^[1] The OLD also treats the classical form as an adaptation after the noun for the adult population.^[8] Bénaben calls the origin uncertain, and mentions the same blend of a derivative of that noun with the Old Latin form.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the spelling pupligo in a charter of 954, and the phrase la carrera publica “the public road” is in a charter of 1175.^[2][4] The DEMel's earliest records from primary sources are publiga in a document of Oña of 1017 and publico in one of Huesca of 1083.^[3] In the laws of Alfonso X (1256–1300) the adjective means “known to all” (public penances), “public” as opposed to private (derecho publico), and “belonging to the whole people” (logar publico “a public place”).^[10]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the phrase en publigo “in public”.^[10] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 gives the adjective as “well known”, “common, notorious” (ladrón público, mujer pública), “of an authority, as opposed to private” and “belonging to the whole people”, and the noun as “the common people of a town”.^[11] The 1869 edition adds the people who share a taste or frequent a place (every writer or theatre has its público), and the phrase mujer pública “prostitute”.^[12] Alemany's dictionary of 1917 also has the sense “the people gathered to watch a show”.^[13]

The modern sense “belonging to the State or a public administration” is in the DLE (colegio público).^[5] In Puerto Rico un público is a car that carries passengers between towns or districts.^[14] The verb publicar is recorded from 1335 (with apublicar in 1295), and publicidad from about 1570, in Saint Teresa.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 954 – pupligo in a charter, Corominas's first record.^[2][4]
• 1017 – publiga in a document of Oña.^[3]
• 1175 – la carrera publica “the public road” in a charter.^[2]
• 1256–1300 – the laws of Alfonso X use the adjective for what is known to all and for public authority.^[10]
• 1295 – apublicar;^[11] publicar follows in 1335.^[2][4]
• 1518 – first record from the Americas, Tierra Firme: bien público.^[15]
• c. 1570 – publicidad in Saint Teresa.^[2]
• 1843 – the Academy defines the noun as the common people of a town.^[11]
• 1869 – the Academy adds the following of a writer or theatre.^[12]
• 1917 – Alemany records the sense “audience at a show”.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Known to everyone; public, notorious: La noticia se hizo pública ayer.^[5][1]
2. Done in the sight of everyone.^[5]
3. Belonging or relating to the state or another public administration: una universidad pública.^[5][16]
4. Open or accessible to all; intended for the public.^[5]

Noun

1. The public: the people who form a community.^[5][1]
2. The people who share a taste or go to a particular place; a following, a clientele.^[5][16]
3. An audience: the people gathered to watch a show or for some similar purpose.^[5][1]
4. (Puerto Rico) A car used for shared transport between towns or districts.^[14]

Word family

• publicidad
• publicista
• publicar
• públicamente

Related words

• pueblo
• república
• Latin pūblicus

Usage notes

Set phrases include en público “in public” and el gran público “the general public”.^[5][10] Mujer pública was an old term for a prostitute.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 670
3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. público
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. público
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. público
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6805
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
10. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. público
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 595
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 640
13. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1386
14. ^ a b Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. público
15. ^ 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. público
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. público