parque

Forms

parque m (plural parques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French parc (“enclosure for animals; park”).^[2][3][4][1] The French word goes back to Medieval Latin parricus (“enclosure”), recorded in the Lex Ripuaria in the 8th century.^[2][5] Corominas calls the word essentially Gallo-Romance: French has it from the 12th century, the old language of Albi as párrec, and it hardly reaches the Catalan Pyrenees.^[2] Before the 17th century Spanish texts sometimes use Italian parco, almost always of things in Italy, from the mid-15th century on;^[5] Corominas regards this as an Italian word used now and then, and the Italian word as itself a Gallicism of the 14th century.^[2]

The same type is West Germanic: Old High German pfarrih, German Pferch and Old English pearroc “enclosure, fold”.^[2] Corominas thinks a Germanic origin of the Romance word very unlikely and assumes a pre-Roman, probably pre-Indo-European, word passed on to both families, connected in some way with parra.^[2] The DHLF derives the Medieval Latin word from *parra (“pole, stake”) and rules out a Germanic source because of the initial /p/ and the Latin suffix.^[5] Wiktionary, by contrast, says the Medieval Latin word was possibly borrowed from Frankish *parrik.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is in Oudin's dictionary of 1607, but the CDH has earlier hits: a Crónica popular del Cid printed in 1512 says a king built the monastery of Miraflores con su parque “with its park”, and Fernández de Oviedo (1535–1552) writes of land taken para las meter en el bosque o parque de jardines de Aranjuez “to put them into the wood or park of gardens of Aranjuez”.^[2][7] The CDH's hits from 1486 are the conjunction par que run together, not this word.^[7] In 1611 Covarrubias called it a French word for the enclosure next to the royal palace, which some use for a hunting wood.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Góngora used the word in 1614 and 1617 with reference to the king, and the Diccionario de Autoridades still notes that it usually means a royal park; it wrongly derived it from English park.^[2][9] Autoridades also has the military sense, the place in a camp where munitions are stored, or where provisions and sutlers are placed; the Academy added parque de artillería in 1843.^[9][10] Later the word was applied more widely, and Corominas notes that it became familiar in the cities.^[2][11]

More recent dictionaries add the senses of a stock of equipment or vehicles for a service (parque de bomberos), a place to leave cars, a child's playpen, and later a protected natural area and an industrial or technology park.^[12][4] The verbs aparcar (1936) and the American parquear (1923) were formed after English to park.^[3]

In Mexico, Central America and Bolivia parque means ammunition, a use that Santamaría documents in Mexican novels.^[13][14] In the Dominican Republic and Panama it is the square where the main streets of a town meet.^[13][15]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – the Italian form parco appears in Spanish texts about Italy.^[2]
• 1512 – a Crónica popular del Cid has parque.^[7]
• 1535–1552 – Fernández de Oviedo writes of the park of Aranjuez.^[7]
• 1607 – Oudin's dictionary, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls it a French word.^[8]
• 1691 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[16]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades gives the royal park and the military store.^[9]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from French parc.^[17]
• 1923 – parquear “to park” in the Americas;^[1] aparcar follows in 1936.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public park in a town, with lawns, gardens and trees: Los domingos paseamos por el parque.^[4][1]
2. An enclosed wooded ground for recreation or hunting, usually next to a palace or a town.^[4]
3. A protected natural area valued for its landscape, fauna or flora: parque natural, parque nacional.^[4][1]
4. A children's playground, parque infantil.^[4][1]
5. The stock of vehicles or equipment of a group or country: el parque de ordenadores de la empresa.^[4][18]
6. A depot for the vehicles and equipment of a public service: parque de bomberos.^[4][18]
7. An area of industrial or technological premises: parque tecnológico.^[4]
8. A place for parking cars; a car park.^[4][1]
9. A playpen.^[4][18]
10. A bed for rearing shellfish.^[4]
11. (military) A place where munitions, or formerly provisions, are kept in a barracks or camp.^[4]
12. (Mexico, Central America, Bolivia) ammunition.^[13][1]
13. (Dominican Republic, Panama) A town square where several streets meet.^[13][15]

Word family

• aparcar
• parquear

Related words

• parra
• French parc
• Italian parco

Usage notes

Common compounds include parque de atracciones (in parts of the Americas parque de diversiones), parque acuático and parque temático.^[4][18][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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, 407
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parque
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. parque
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. parc
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. parc
7. ^ 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. parque
8. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1195
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 134
10. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 534
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 744
12. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. parque
13. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. parque
14. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 807
15. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. parque
16. ^ 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. parque
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 792
18. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. parque