plaza

Forms

plaza f (plural plazas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote plaça, with the voiceless ⟨ç⟩, throughout the Middle Ages.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish plaça, inherited from Vulgar Latin *plattĕa (“broad street, square”), the popular form of Latin platea.^[2][4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa, “broad street”), short for πλατεῖα ὁδός (plateîa hodós, “broad way”), the feminine of πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat”).^[2][4][1] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *plat- (“to spread”).^[6]

Corominas argues that the affricate of the Spanish word cannot come from a single /t/: the double /tt/ is the expressive one of *plattus (“flat”), the source of chato, and all the Romance languages agree with it.^[2] Spanish and Portuguese keep the group /pl-/ (or turn it into /pr-/) instead of the popular outcome.^[2] Corominas puts this down to the word's use in official and administrative language, or takes it as semi-learned, since the Latin word was common in classical and medieval Latin.^[2] García de Diego takes the Spanish word from French place or from the dialects.^[7]

The same word is Portuguese praça, Galician praza, Catalan plaça, Occitan plaça and Italian piazza.^[8][1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), where the word means an open space or field: „vio que entr'ellos e el castiello mucho avié grand plaça” “he saw that there was a wide space between them and the castle”.^[10][2][4] Berceo too uses it for an open field: „Inchien toda la plaza” “they filled the whole field”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense “market” appears in Juan Ruiz and in Nebrija.^[2] Nebrija distinguishes the plaça where goods are sold, Latin forum, from the plaça where there are no houses, Latin platea.^[12] The general sense “room, space”, already in Alfonso X's Estoria de España, gave the phrase hazerse plaça “to make way” and the cry ¡plaza! used to clear the way.^[2][13][5]

The Diccionario de Autoridades also gives the military sense of a fortified town, as in plaza fuerte, and the place one thing occupies among others of its kind, as in a stable with room for seven animals.^[14] From the place in a list came the sense “post, position”, recorded in Lima in 1567 for a vacant post.^[15] The commercial sense of a city where trade and finance are done is used in phrases like plaza financiera.^[16][5]

In the Americas plaza is also the daily shopping for food at the market (Mexico, Guatemala) and the width of a bed (Ecuador to Uruguay).^[17] In Colombia it was a unit of area of 50 metres a side, and in the Dominican Republic it is a shopping centre.^[18][19] The English word plaza was taken from Spanish for the square of a Spanish or Spanish-American town;^[6] Etymonline dates it 1830.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy) uses plaça for an open space.^[10][4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has „por todas las plaças et por todas las calles dela uilla”.^[10]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's Estoria de España uses plaça for “room, space”.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's plaça lugar donde venden (forum) and plaça lugar donde no ai casas (platea).^[12]
• 1528 – first record from the Americas, in Honduras.^[15]
• 1567 – in Lima plaza names an official post left vacant.^[15]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the market square, the fortified town and the place for one thing among others.^[14]
• 1830 – the English word plaza is first recorded, according to Etymonline.^[6]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. platea”.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A square, plaza: a wide open space in a town where several streets meet: Nos vemos en la plaza del ayuntamiento.^[5][1]
2. A marketplace, where goods are sold and fairs and public festivities are held.^[5]
3. A fortified place, a stronghold: plaza fuerte.^[5][1]
4. A place for a person or thing among others of its kind; a seat or space: un coche de cinco plazas.^[5][1]
5. Space, room.^[5]
6. A post, job or position: Ha ganado una plaza de enfermera.^[5][1]
7. The entry made in the rolls for a volunteer soldier; hence sentar plaza “to enlist”.^[5][1]
8. (commerce) A town where large wholesale and financial business is done; the body of merchants of such a town.^[5][16]
9. The floor of an oven.^[5]
10. (bullfighting) A bullring: plaza de toros.^[1]
11. (Dominican Republic) A shopping centre, a mall.^[19][1]

Interjection

1. (historical) Make way!, a cry used when the king came out or in great crowds to clear the way.^[5][2]

Word family

• plazuela
• desplazar
• placero
• reemplazar
• biplaza
• monoplaza
• plazoleta
• emplazar

Related words

• platea
• chato
• Portuguese praça
• Italian piazza
• English plaza

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, 576
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. plaza
4. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. plaza
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. plaza
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. platea
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 583
10. ^ 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. plaza
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 590
12. ^ a b 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. plaza
13. ^ a b 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. plaza
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 295
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. plaza
16. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. plaza
17. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. plaza
18. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 671
19. ^ 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. plaza
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 840