patrulla

Forms

patrulla f (plural patrullas)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Spanish patrullar (“to patrol”), according to the Academy and Corominas.^[2][3] The verb is borrowed from French patrouiller, which in the 15th century took the sense “to patrol” from Old French patouiller (“to tramp about in the mud”) (1213), a derivative of French patte (“paw”), the word that is Spanish pata.^[3][4][5] Wiktionary's French entry explains the Old French noun patrouille as a night watch, literally “a tramping about”.^[1]

Gómez de Silva and García de Diego take the Spanish noun directly from the French noun patrouille, and the Academy's dictionary of 1884 and 1899 from Italian pattuglia.^[5][6][7][8] The noun is recorded from 1646, well before the verb, which the BDELC dates 1728 and the CDH 1768.^[9][3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in La vida y hechos de Estebanillo González (1646), where a foraging party of soldiers has stocked an inn: hallámosla abastecida de pavos de Indias, que había traído otra patrulla que había salido del mismo cuartel “we found it stocked with turkeys, which another patrol from the same quarters had brought”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1737) defines the word as five or six soldiers who leave the guardhouse with a corporal to patrol and keep a town or camp quiet, quoting the military ordinances of 1728, and by similarity as a group of people who walk the streets together.^[11] The Academy kept both senses, the second as figurative.^[12][13] The word reached the Americas early: Mexico City had mounted patrols in 1697, and in 1763–1764 the war reports from the Philippines speak of patrols of Indians and of the enemy.^[14][9]

In 1899 the Academy widened the definition to any small armed party keeping order.^[8] The DLE adds groups of ships or aircraft on coastal or anti-submarine duty and the patrol service itself.^[2] In much of Latin America patrulla is also the police car, masculine in Panama.^[2][15]

Timeline

• 1646 – first record, in Estebanillo González.^[9]
• 1697 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico City: que rondasen las patrullas a caballo.^[14]
• 1728 – the military ordinances order an ordinary patrol out of each quarter after nightfall; the BDELC's date for patrullar.^[11][3]
• 1737 – Autoridades defines the military patrol and the group of people in the streets.^[11]
• 1763 – war reports from the Philippines use the word.^[9]
• 1768 – the CDH's first record of the verb patrullar.^[10]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Italian pattuglia.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A patrol: a small party of soldiers or other armed people who go round to keep order and safety in a town or camp: Una patrulla recorría el puerto de madrugada.^[2][1]
2. A group of ships or aircraft guarding a coast, a stretch of sea or a minefield against submarine or air attack, or making weather observations.^[2]
3. The service or duty done by a patrol.^[2][16]
4. A small band of people who go about together or meet for some purpose.^[2][16]
5. (Latin America) A police car; masculine in Panama.^[2][15]

Word family

• patrullero

Related words

• patrullar
• pata
• patullar
• French patrouille

Usage notes

Coche patrulla is the police patrol car.^[2] The Dominican Spanish dictionary defines patrulla simply as a police patrol vehicle.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. patrulla
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pata
4. ^ 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. patrullar
5. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 531
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 4853
7. ^ 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. 801
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 752
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. patrulla
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. patrullar
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 167
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 649
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 583
14. ^ 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. patrulla
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. patrulla
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. patrulla
17. ^ 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. patrulla