paquete

Forms

paquete m (plural paquetes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French paquet (“small bundle”), according to Corominas, the DLE and Wiktionary.^[2][3][4][1] The French word is a diminutive of pacque (“bale”), the source of Spanish paca.^[2][5] The French diminutive is recorded from 1368; the DHLF derives its base probably from English pack, itself from Middle Dutch pak, while Corominas and Wiktionary take it straight from Middle Dutch.^[6][2][1] Wiktionary takes the Dutch word back to Frankish *pakkō and Proto-Germanic *pakkô;^[1] Corominas notes that it is one of the rare Germanic words beginning with /p/, and that its origin has not been fully studied.^[1][2]

The Academy derived the word from English packet in its editions of 1884 and 1899.^[7][8] The same family includes Italian pacco.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hits are in the letters of Bernardino de Mendoza to the king, from 1578 and 1580, where paquetes are packets of letters sent with the diplomatic post: vienen cartas suyas en los paquetes de la Reina “letters of his come in the Queen's packets”.^[9] Corominas dates it only to the Diccionario de Autoridades (1737), noting that Oudin and Covarrubias lack it.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades gave two senses, “small bundle” and “bundle of letters closed like a folded sheet”.^[10] By comparison with a tightly wrapped parcel it came to mean a fop dressed in the latest fashion: Corominas finds it in Sarmiento in 1842, and the Academy added it in 1884.^[2][7] The same writer used paquete for the mail steamer, an oral adaptation of English packboat; the Academy's 1843 edition lists that sense.^[11][2][11] In Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia the adjective paquete, paqueta “smartly dressed, elegant” is still current.^[4][2][12] Recent senses include a package of services, a pillion passenger on a motorcycle, and in computing a software package.^[4] Several countries use it colloquially for a lie (Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the River Plate) or for a dull, clumsy person.^[12][4]

Timeline

• 1578 – Bernardino de Mendoza writes of two paquetes that had been left behind.^[9]
• 1635 – the diminutive paquetito appears in a letter.^[9]
• 1705 – the verb empaquetar is first recorded.^[3]
• 1724 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[13]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the word.^[3][10]
• 1842 – Sarmiento uses it for a dandy and for a mail steamer.^[2]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “dandy” and derives the word from English.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A parcel or package: a neatly wrapped bundle of things, not very large: Le llegó un paquete por correo.^[4][1]
2. A bundle of letters or papers, or those sent in one envelope.^[4]
3. (dated) A packet boat (paquebote).^[4]
4. A set of services offered or requirements imposed, as in paquete turístico.^[4][14]
5. A pillion passenger on a motorcycle.^[4][15]
6. (colloquial) A punishment or sanction.^[4]
7. (colloquial) The bulge of the male genitals under tight clothing.^[4][1]
8. (printing) A block of type of about a thousand letters.^[4]
9. (computing) A set of programs or data.^[4]
10. (colloquial, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay) A clumsy, boring person;^[1] (Spain) an incompetent person.^[4][1]
11. (colloquial, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico) A lie (mentira).^[4]

Adjective

1. (Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay) Smartly dressed and well groomed; elegant, of a house or a party.^[4][1][12]

Word family

• empaquetar
• paquetería

Related words

• empacar
• paca
• paquebote
• pacotilla
• French paquet

Usage notes

The adjective of the River Plate has a feminine paqueta;^[4][16] Batres noted that Spain said ir hecho un paquete but not ir muy paquete.^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 331
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. paca
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. paquete
5. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 522
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 787
8. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 739
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. paquete
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. paquete
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 530
12. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. paquete
13. ^ 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. paquete
14. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. paquete
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. paquete
16. ^ a b Batres Jáuregui, Antonio (1892), Vicios del lenguaje y provincialismos de Guatemala, Guatemala: Encuadernación y Tipografía Nacional, p. 424